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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963080">What You Are</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebonyskys/pseuds/Ebonyskys'>Ebonyskys</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Don't Like Don't Read, F/M, FemNaru - Freeform, OMG PANTIES TOO, Original Character(s), Poison, Sakura Bashing, Sex, Smut, cuteness, kind of, mentions of non/com, sai is a dick, sakura has sex in a hotspring later</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:41:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963080</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebonyskys/pseuds/Ebonyskys</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The night of the Nine Tailed Fox attack was the night the Naruto was born. But what nobody knows is that Naruto was born a girl. 18 years later Naruto is out looking for Sasuke when she gets ambushed by an ancient group of ninja that everyone has forgotten about. Injured and in need of Tsunade's help, her and Sasuke have to return to Konoha. FEMnaru! Rated Mature to be safe</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>131</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer:<br/>I DO NOT OWN NARUTO</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: I originally posted this on Fanfiction.net but i find myself wondering how it will fare on here as well</strong>
</p>
<p>I came up with this story one night. This chapter isn't going to go into alot of details just a summary of what happened before the main part.</p>
<p><span class="u"><strong>DISCLAIMER:</strong></span> I do not own Naruto.</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <em> Prologue:</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>The night the Nine Tailed Fox attacked, and Naruto was born was the night that started it all. See it wasn't a baby boy that was born that night but a girl. Minato decided to prevent anyone from taking advantage of his daughter, to get the Fox, to put an additional seal on her to give her the appearance of a boy. He knew that there were people out there, that if they knew that the new host to the Fox was female they would go after her as soon as her body matured. No one would be told, and the only way for the the seal to break or come off would be either too much stress on the body whether it be emotional or physical, or for her to reach the age of eighteen.</p>
<p>She would grow up thinking she was a boy just like any other. He knew that it might seem cruel but he was doing it for her protection, until she could protect herself. Her body wouldn't mature until the seal either broke or wore off, which he supposed would be a shock when it happened. But he was dying and needed to protect her in anyway he could. Minato wasn't going to be there to protect her himself. This was all he could do and it was killing him even more. He didn't want to do this to his child but knew that it was the only way. He wanted her to have at least some what of a normal life and he wanted her to have the choice to have children or not. That should be her choice not anyone else's.</p>
<p>After the seals were placed and Minato passed away it didn't take long for the Anbu to appear and find the baby crying in a bundle laying next to it's parents. They took the child to the Hokage to decide it's future, knowing that it held the Fox.</p>
<p>The Anbu team walked through the doors of the Hokage's office with the now sleeping babe, and handed it to the Third Hokage who was once again in charge.</p>
<p>"This is Minato's child, and the new host to the Fox. I believe he named him Naruto if I remember correctly." He held the child as it slept unaware of it's surroundings and not knowing it was now an orphan. "No body shall be told who his parents are or of the Fox. We will try to give this child as normal of a life as possible. His parents died to protect this village and their child is a hero for holding the Nine Tailed Fox. Even this child shall not know what happened this night." He looked down at the small blonde bundle feeling sorry for the small life that already had more to bare than anyone else. "Anyone who speaks of this shall be severely punished."</p>
<p>~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~</p>
<p>Twelve years later Naruto officially becomes a ninja and is sitting in his class room waiting to be assigned into a team. Only he doesn't want to be on the same team as Sasuke and really doesn't understand why. All he knew was that when he thought of the the other boy it made him blush. Not that he was interested in anyone in that way. But he thought that thinking of a girl should make him blush. But for some reason thinking of girls made him feel gross.</p>
<p>Actually the little blonde doesn't know the why's to a lot of things. Like why he liked girlier things than the other boys his age, or why he didn't think that girls had cooties. He kind of thought that boys had cooties and didn't want to play with any of the others growing up, not that Naruto had any friends. For the longest time Naruto thought that there was no reason why everyone seemed to hate him until a few weeks ago when a former instructor opened his big mouth letting everything be known. Granted the Nine tailed fox inside his belly didn't seem like a good enough reason to hate him, but what ever. It wasn't like He was the one to rampage the village and kill people.</p>
<p>Just then the rest of the class began to file into the room and as Sasuke passed by Naruto he muttered something under his breath at the blonde. Naruto taking a moment to catch what he said jumped out of his seat and made his way over to where the Uchiha sat, and jumped onto the table getting into his face. Someone bumped into Naruto causing him to become unbalanced and fall forward.</p>
<p>Suddenly he found himself kissing the one person that made him feel funny. Shocked he stared into the wide eyes in front of him before scrambling away with a shreek. <em>'My first kiss was with HIM!?'</em></p>
<p>And of course this is when Iruka decided was a good time to walk into the classroom and call for everyone to get into their seats and be quiet.</p>
<p>As he began to call out groups of three's placing them into teams. When Naruto heard his name he perked up until he heard that he was getting lumped with Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was an annoying bitch who fawned over the cootie infested Sasuke. The same cootie infested Sasuke that he just kissed. Naruto could hear Sakura squealing in delight over being on the same team as Sasuke but moaning in the next breath about being with Naruto.</p>
<p>Sakura was one of the kids that hated Naruto for no reason other than the adult's actions. So naturally Naruto didn't care much for the stupid pink haired cootie lover.</p>
<p>Months went by as did Naruto's thirteenth birthday, and they went on missions and began to get along and the Chunin exams were around the corner. Naruto thought of Sasuke as his best friend while Sasuke was having trouble sorting out his feelings for the blonde. He would have thought he was gay if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't seem to be attracted to any other males and the thought of doing anything, even holding hands with another male made him say hell no. Being around the blonde after the the bridge mission where they fought for each other was confusing. On one hand he wanted to near him and enjoy the warmth that seemed to fill his chest at being around Naruto. And on the other he wanted to get as far away from him as possible, he hated the feelings he was beginning to have for the blonde.</p>
<p>Watching as Naruto got stronger and stronger wasn't helping Sasuke come to terms with his feelings or his thoughts. It just pissed him off that Naruto was catching up to him, and fast. Having Naruto come to his rescue again in the Forest of Death made him angry. Though what he saw in Naruto's eyes scared him, where did the red slitted eyes come from? Sasuke had never heard of a bloodline that carried such a trait. Getting attacked by that snake person didn't help him feel stronger either even though the guy offered him power, more power than he had now. He needed to get stronger, but didn't think what the guy was offering was worth it.</p>
<p>They argued one day and more than anything after seeing the look on Naruto's face, all he wanted was to gather him up into his arms and apologize for being mean. Which in reality pissed him off and sent him storming away as fast as he could to train with Kakashi.</p>
<p>Naruto meets Jiraya and automatically dubs him the "Pervy Sage" which is justly earned. The final test of the exams was coming up fast and Naruto needed to train so he decided he was going to be the one to do it. Much to Jiraya's dismay.</p>
<p>After failing numerous times to stand on the water Naruto took his clothes off, well everything but his shorts. Jiraya looked over to see how Naruto was doing to see the seal on his student's belly, though it didn't look like a traditional seal for holding a tailed beast. He got closer to the boy to look and became confused. It almost looked like another seal was placed on top of the sealing, but the top one had something to do with gender. Why would Naruto need a seal for gender?</p>
<p>Jiraya shrugged his shoulders to put it aside for later thinkings, and got back to looking at the seal and what was wrong with Naruto's chakra control. Seeing the issue he fixed it causing Naruto get the wind knocked out of him. After that things got easier and faster to learn.</p>
<p>The Sand ninja attacked on the last day of the exams, and in the end after Naruto beat Garra, Sasuke was even more pissed at how much stronger Naruto had become. Watching him summon the giant toad and transforming it into the Nine Tailed Fox left him in awe. He didn't know whether to be proud of pissed off. Something about the Fox seemed familiar though he couldn't place why.</p>
<p>Then it hit him.</p>
<p>The eyes.</p>
<p>They were the same as Naruto's when they were in the Forest of Death.</p>
<p>But Naruto couldn't be the Fox.</p>
<p>That made no sense.</p>
<p>Sasuke left in the middle of the night after the exams, accepting Orochimaru's offer for more power. He couldn't stand by and watch as the blonde surpassed him. So when Naruto came after him to bring him back, it almost killed half of himself to leave the blonde on the ground badly injured and unconscious.</p>
<p>Neither one knew that the fight caused the gender seal on Naruto to begin to break. After being in the hospital Jiraya convinces Naruto to come train with him for three years.</p>
<p>~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~</p>
<p>Three years later Naruto comes back to the village with Jiraya in tow. He had learned so much and was excited to see Tsunade and everyone again. Jiraya didn't clue Naruto in on his suspicions of Naruto maybe being a girl. Instead he send a message to Tsunade letting her know of his thoughts so when the time came she would know what to do if Naruto was indeed a female.</p>
<p>She agreed to keep quiet since there was no need to worry the blonde if he was just a male with a funky seal.</p>
<p>Not long after getting back to the village Naruto was out on missions again and Jiraya went off to further his "research" and find out more about what Orochimaru was up to.</p>
<p>Only to have a messenger toad deliver the news of impending attack and Jiraya's death.</p>
<p>After the attack from Pain and Naruto had a chance to himself, he becomes overwhelmed with grief and pain from his wounds before passing out in the Hokage tower.</p>
<p>Everyone was shocked when the seal broke completely and there on the ground in Naruto's place was a girl.</p>
<p>Tsunade had Naruto placed in a private room and barred anyone who tried to enter because the last thing Naruto was going to need when she woke up was having everyone crowd around her asking her questions she couldn't answer. Questions that no one could answer.</p>
<p>Since Naruto's female self had never had a hair cut or developed, several changes seemed to happen all at once. Her hair grew for almost three hours before stopping at almost five feet long, her hips developed curve in just a few minutes, breasts formed and were decent in size for a sixteen year old girl, and her facial features became more feminine.</p>
<p>Naruto was actually quite pretty, almost identical to the 'Sexy Jutsu' she came up with when she was twelve. Just slightly less curvy and busty. That and the lack of clouds.</p>
<p>Tsunade had her changed out of her old ninja clothing and into a night gown since now that she was much smaller all around her clothes dwarfed her.</p>
<p>When Naruto woke up three days later to find out that she was now a girl after being a boy her whole life, well she freaked out for a few hours. Though now a lot of things made sense. Her feelings for Sasuke, how girls grossed her out, and the idea she had of cooties as a child. Her feelings for Sasuke weren't that of a friend and hadn't been for a couple of years now, nor were they that of a brother or a team mate.</p>
<p>She loved him.</p>
<p>And she needed to find him.</p>
<p>She needed to bring him home.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S note ....again. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>well that's the prologue.</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter1: Why?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:</strong>
</p>
<p>So I have over ten chapters of this fiction outlined which isn't something I have done with any of my others before this. (actually I think I have roughly 17-18 now?)</p>
<p>
  <strong> DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em><span class="u">Last time:</span> </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She loved him. And she needed to find him. She needed to bring him home. </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter 1: Why?</span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>It's been two years since Naruto's seal wore off and she had to get used to her 'new' body. It was hard at first since she didn't know anything about being a girl other than that they annoyed the fuck out of her. The first thing she did after coming to terms with being a female was have Tsunade cut her hair so that it stopped at the middle of her back instead of at her ankles. She never had to worry about it before since her hair never seemed to grow.</p>
<p>Everyone else seemed to get used to the 'new' Naruto before she did which was just sad in her opinion. What did that say for her past as a boy?</p>
<p>Naruto thought of Sasuke almost everyday. Especially when they got a new team mate, Sai. He looked like a pale imitation of Sasuke, literally. And he always seemed to be staring at her. Sometimes it creeped her out and Sakura would point it out a few times here and there and he would stop for a while.</p>
<p>Sakura was the first person to accept Naruto suddenly being a girl and helped her get used to the idea. She never let anyone give her shit for it either, and for that the blonde was glad.</p>
<p>Now she was standing in the Hokage's office waiting for Tsunade to give her an answer to whether or not she could go find Sasuke again.</p>
<p>Tsunade sat at her desk with her elbows propped up on her desk and her hands together resting against her chin. She looked at Naruto for a long time before sighing and turning around. "I need you here Naruto. You're one of our best Ninja and I can't afford to have you leaving to find Sasuke Uchiha all the time. So my answer is no. You can't do it anymore."</p>
<p>Naruto's face grew red with anger. "That's not fair! Granny Tsunade you know what this means to me!" How could she say no? It's been over two years since she last went to find him, or had heard any news about him. She wanted to go, no, she needed to go. She smacked her hands down on the desk in front of her causing papers to flutter to the floor.</p>
<p>She could hear the other woman sigh. "I am sorry Naruto but that is my final decision on the matter." She knew that Naruto might not forgive her for telling her no, but she really had no other choice. Naruto was needed in the village, and if anyone out side the village found out that Naruto Uzumaki was not a boy, hell would break loose. It was hard enough to send her on the few missions she had gone on the past couple of years. But to let her go off in search of Sasuke Uchiha alone? Impossible.</p>
<p>Naruto couldn't believe this. She had waitid so long for a chance to go, only to be told no. It made her want to cry out in anger and frustration. She stormed out of the Hokage's office and down the steps leaving Tsunade questioning if she had done the right thing.</p>
<p>Shikamaru saw her coming and quickly got out of her way. The blonde looked to be in a bad mood and he didn't want to be on the other end of it. He felt sorry for whoever casused the bad mood.</p>
<p>Naruto made it back to her apartment and began to pack her bag of things she would need. She had already decided on her way back to her apartment that she was going to leave tonight. With or without Tsunade's permission. She just needed to wait a few hours.</p>
<p>Little did Naruto know that Tsunade anticipated her leaving and placed her apartment under the watch of her team mates, Sai and Sakura. Sakura didn't like the idea of keeping an eye on her friend and reporting back to Tsunade with out her knowing. It felt like she was betraying Naruto, even if she half agreed with Tsunade about the keeping Naruto safe part. She gave up hopes of being with Sasuke a long time ago. When she realized that the only person Sasuke paid any attention to was Naruto. It got to the point before they found out that Naruto was actually a girl that she thought Sasuke might be gay.</p>
<p>Now it might have just been his Uchiha genes seeing something through the seal without him noticing, and he just went with it. Hell he might have even been confused by the whole thing which might be why he was always glaring at Naruto. And Naruto, who knows what went through that mind when they were younger. Thinking about it caused Sakura to giggle sometimes.</p>
<p>Night was coming closer and still there was no movement from Naruto's apartment, which in all reality was odd. So Sakura signaled to Sai that she was going in to check. As she got closer to the door the more she felt like she should just let Naruto go. For five years now that's all she's ever wanted was Sasuke back, whether she was doing it because she knew she loved him or not.</p>
<p>When Sakura got to the door she raised her hand to knock, but found she couldn't.</p>
<p>She couldn't stand in her friend's way this time.</p>
<p>It might be the last chance she got to get what she wanted. Naruto's last chance to bring him home. And if she didn't get the chance she would come to hate her for it if she were the one to stop her. Naruto needed to do this even if she failed, cause Sasuke didn't know that Naruto was a girl, and he didn't know that she loved him. So she lowered her hand and backed away.</p>
<p>The crackle of the radio in her ear reminded her about Sai. "What are you doing Sakura?"</p>
<p>She placed her left hand to her ear. "I can't do it."</p>
<p>"Why not?" He sounded annoyed which was impressive considering he was still working on facial expressions.</p>
<p>"Because I can't be the on to stop her from finding him. She loves-" She heard him curse about the stupidity of not following orders before the radio cut off.</p>
<p>From the corner of her eye she watched as Sai suddenly left his post to chase after something down the road. Probably Naruto. Sakura decided it would be best if she just went home and waited for Naruto to return on her own. There was no way Sai was going to be able to get her to come back. The only one that could get her to listen now was Sasuke.</p>
<p>Sai raced down the road after the blonde streak he saw for only a moment. But he did see it. It had to be Naruto. Sai pushed himself faster knowing that if he wanted to catch her he needed to go faster. He catches up with her as she's about to walk through the southern gate out of the village.</p>
<p>"Naruto, wait." He calls out and she stops but doesn't turn around. He walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder as he comes around in front blocking her way. "Please don't go."</p>
<p>She cocks her head to the side confused. "Why do you care if I leave?" and shrugs off his hand, missing the look of hurt in his eyes.</p>
<p>Sai looks at the ground knowing that Naruto won't wait long for an answer but knows also he must think of a good reason to give her. "Because I love you, Naruto." And it was true, over the past two and years since he's met her he had fallen in love with her. At first when he was in Root he had heard amazing tales of the Host of the Nine Tailed Fox he had admired her not knowing like everyone else that she was a girl.</p>
<p>Boy was he shocked when he found out Naruto was a girl. When he learned of Sasuke he was annoyed that a person who left was still so much on everyone's mind and that he was compared to this absent person. He grew even more annoyed when he figured out that Naruto was in love with the Ninja. He couldn't figure out what was so great about the guy. From what he could gather the guy had left when Sakura and Naruto were thirteen, but for some reason they were strongly attached to him and wouldn't let him go. Why couldn't she love him instead? He wanted Naruto for himself.</p>
<p>Sai watches as her eyes widened in shock before he leans in and presses his lips against hers and holds her to his chest. He didn't expect her not to react at all, he wanted her to be shocked or to gasp or something. But she just stands there as he kisses her.</p>
<p>Naruto doesn't respond as Sai pulls away, she doesn't know how. She knows she doesn't feel the same way as he does, which just makes her feel awkward as he stares at her for some reaction. Part of her wants to wipe the feeling of his lips on hers away with her hand and another wants to cry cause someone besides Sasuke kissed her. Whith out her permission. So she did neither.</p>
<p>"I am sorry Sai, but I love Sasuke." She whispers looking away from him.</p>
<p>"Why?" He demands. "Why him?"</p>
<p>Naruto smiled sadly to herself before looking at Sai. "When I figure that out I will let you know."</p>
<p>As she makes to go around him to go through the gate he grabs ahold of her wrist causing her to get annoyed. "Let me go Sai." Naruto looks down at the hand around her wrist, giving him a chance to do it himself before she removed him herself.</p>
<p>He shakes his head, "I can't do that. Tsunade's orders." Figures Tsunade would use her team mates to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't ask questions about why they were around.</p>
<p>Naruto tugged on her arm trying to just shake him loose without hurting him. "If you don't let go of me right now Sai you will regret it later." She growled out getting angrier when his grip only tightened. "Suit yourself."</p>
<p>A Rasengan formed in her hand, a small one since she didn't want to hurt him too bad, just get him to leave her alone, before she launched it at his stomach. He quickly let go of her wrist as he was sent flying a few feet away.</p>
<p>"Do not follow me." With that as her last words she left Konoha and Sai behind as she went to go find Sasuke.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Author's note.... again.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong> here is the first actual chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! please review?</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Usaagi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: </strong>
</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>
  <strong>DISCALIMER:</strong>
</p>
<p>I do not own Naruto.</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">Last time:</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> A Rasengan formed in her hand, a small one since she didn't want to hurt him too bad, just get him to leave her alone, before she launched it at his stomach. He quickly let go of her wrist as he was sent flying a few feet away. "Do not follow me." With that as her last words she left Konoha and Sai behind as she went to go find Sasuke.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u"> Chapter 2: Usagi </span>
</p>
<p>It's been months since Naruto left the village, at first everything was going ok with traveling under her own name, but then she had to change it when she heard people asking around for a blonde haired, blue eyed female, by the name of Naruto with whiskers on her face. So she changed her appearance with henge, she would only have to worry about it if she got injured or her energy was depleted. So her hair was now black and short, she changed her eyes to green, and left the whiskers off her face. The name she had chosen for herself was Usagi, she always thought bunnies were cute, so why not.</p>
<p>The first couple of months had gone by pretty fast compared to the later ones. She seemed to have hit a few good leads at first and traveled pretty far pretty fast. But for the last three months things slowed down. No one seemed to know much, or they were just trying to swindle money from her.</p>
<p>She had been staying in this small village outside the Land of Water for almost two weeks after having to leave the last one. People had come around asking about her again, and to be on the safe side she just decided to leave. She didn't know how they seemed to show up in the same villages as her all the time, and frankly she didn't care. She only had one goal in mind, find any information on Sasuke.</p>
<p>Right now she was in the marketplace getting some food for her room at the local inn, and she was going to be checking up on a source that claimed to be able to tell you what you were looking for. Now normally she wasn't the superstitious type who believed such nonsense, but lately her luck at hearing anything was running low. So she was willing to try anything. A few people who had heard her description of Sasuke when she would ask about him in bars and inns, had tried to help her but they never really knew much.</p>
<p>A couple of times she had gotten really strange looks from some other ninja. And once a man came up to her asking why she was looking for the missing Uchiha, and began asking her all sorts of questions like who she was and what Sasuke was to her. Naruto just assumed that he was someone that had a run in with Sasuke and didn't tell him much besides her 'name' and that she was looking for him because she needed a favor from him, before leaving with a smile.</p>
<p>But at this point something was better than nothing.</p>
<p>The gentleman who was willing to try and help her today only wanted some fruit in exchange for his help and she didn't think that was too much to ask for. Everything had a price after all. So she got him a couple of bananas, a mango, and a few apples. For herself she just mostly got things she could make fast and easy. Like instant ramen, granted it wasn't as good as Ichiraku's, but it was still <em>technically</em> ramen.</p>
<p>She wandered around the market looking at some of the other things that people were selling, sometimes someone would have a good deal on one thing or another. In one town she found new clothes for a steal since she needed to get new ones anyway to complete her disguise. She no longer wore anything resembling a jumpsuit, having gotten rid of that at her first chance. Though she mourned the loss of all the useful pockets. Instead she wore mostly black, wearing some short black denim shorts with fishnets that stopped at her calves. Her top was cropped at her belly with net-tee-top over it. She still wore her blue sandals not wanting to get rid of everything from home, but she kept her headband hidden in the bottom of her pack. Naruto didn't wear her weapons pouch but she wasn't planning on killing anyone so she figured her jutsu would be enough either way.</p>
<p>Since she was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't notice that six people were keeping tabs on her, following her through the crowds. They didn't let her get too far ahead of them before moving closer but keeping far enough away as not to cause her to run.</p>
<p>Not paying much attention to what she was doing with her mind wandering off on other things, Naruto was surprised to find herself no longer in the market but in the woods. She looked around not seeing anyone and that the busy market was about three hundred yards behind her. Shrugging her shoulders she continued down the path that led to the man's house carrying the fruit she promised him.</p>
<p>A twig snapping behind her was the only warning that she got that someone was there. Spinning around on her toes Naruto realized she was surrounded. They were dressed from head to toe in black excluding their eyes. They wore headbands with slashed cloud symbols, labeling them as rouge ninja. each had a different weapon strapped some where on their body, ranging from katana to giant shuriken to simple throwing kunai. Cursing to herself not paying attention and for not wearing her pouch she relaxed her posture, maybe she could get them to leave without force.</p>
<p>"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked looking at the man who was in front of her but keeping her senses open to the other five.</p>
<p>The one in front of her took a step forward. "We want what you have in your belly." </p>
<p><em>'My belly? What could-</em>' Naruto narrowed her eyes at the realization of what they were talking about. "I don't know what you're talking about."</p>
<p>"You can drop the act. We know you're the host to the Nine Tailed Fox. It's not hard to follow someone who's looking for something." He shrugged his shoulders as though it was an easy task. "I have to admit though, you gave us the slip for a few weeks there when you first changed your appearance. Smart move that one. Changing your name was smart too." The guy crossed his arms over his chest. "Now you can either come with us quietly and we won't have to hurt you, or you can put up a fight."</p>
<p>Naruto stared at the man like he was stupid and cocked her head to the side slightly confused. "You think I'm just going to go with you?" She held her hand out at her side palm up slowly gathering chakra in the center. "You obviously have no idea who you're dealing with."</p>
<p>With a fully formed rasengan in her hand she charged forward causing them to each draw their weapons, but they didn't move otherwise. She made contact with the man in front of her when the person behind her sprinted towards her from behind and the others attacked following their lead. Her attention was brought back to the man in front when he began to stand up after being thrown into a tree behind him. He brought his katana back up and came racing back as she dodged an attack from the side.</p>
<p>Naruto hissed in pain as one of the ninja sliced a blade across her ribs and another along her belly. <em>'Shit, I'm out of practice.</em>' she leapt backwards as the katana swung centimeters from her nose while trying to dodge senbon being thrown from the sides. She managed to evade most of them but a couple landed in her thigh causing her to miss a step.</p>
<p><strong><em>'Naruto, let me take over.</em></strong>' Kurama's voice echoed in her mind. He usually chose to keep to himself and let her handle things.</p>
<p><em> 'I have this.'</em> Insisted the blonde as she launched another attack at the ninja to her left knocking him flat on his ass.</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strong> 'Not with the way you're bleeding. Let me help.' </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>She glanced down at her wounds noticing for the first time that they were still bleeding. <em>'That's odd.'</em></p>
<p>That glance proved to be her undoing as one of the ninja landed a blow to under her jaw, knocking her out and sending her flying into a tree and landing in a heap.</p>
<p>"She's going to be feeling that when she wakes up." Came a new voice. The five ninja left standing whirled around to see who was there to be met with three bored looking ninja.</p>
<p>"She didn't even put up much of a fight." protested a red haired ninja wearing glasses. "I don't know why he sent us to retrieve this girl. She seems useless to me. And nosy, asking all sorts of questions. If she hadn't -"</p>
<p>"Shut up Karin." The smaller white haired man sitting on a large boulder of to the right of the trail said. "We follow his orders that's it."</p>
<p>Karin crossed her arms and tossed her head back sticking her nose into the air. " Whatever."</p>
<p>"Jugo, go pick up the girl." The pale one ordered and the big guy grunted moving forward.</p>
<p>"What do you think you are doing?" The leader of the rouge ninja asked as they ignored him and continued to retrieve Naruto. "Hey, that's our prize! Won fair and square!" He yelled moving forward to attack Jugo.</p>
<p>Jugo only swung his arm out making contact with the ninja's head making him drop like a stone.</p>
<p>"Get them!" Two of the other rouge ninja screamed charging the three new comers</p>
<p>"What a waste of time." Suigetsu muttered grabbing the hilt of his sword bringing it around to the front before swinging it in a wide arc decapitating two ninja.</p>
<p>Thinking better of their actions the remaining two Rouge Ninja stopped in their tracks before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.</p>
<p>"Well that was eventful." Karin spat as Jugo came forward with the black haired girl draped over his shoulder. Glaring at the girl she huffed. "Worthless." She grabbed a chunk of the girl's hair lifting her head. "She isn't even pretty. What use is she?" Letting go of her hair she let her head drop back against Jugo's back. "And she's bleeding all over Jugo."</p>
<p>"Shut up Karin." Was all Suigetsu said before withdrawing a scroll from his pocket that would allow them to teleport themselves back to their compound.</p>
<p>When they arrived back they took the unknown girl to the room that they were told to put her in and Suigetsu told Karin to dress the girl's wounds knowing they shouldn't let the girl bleed to death. Muttering the whole time Karin did as she was told making sure the wounds were clean before wrapping bandages around them and leaving.</p>
<p>There wasn't much more she could do anyway until the girl woke up. It wasn't like she was going to undress the girl and look her over, they couldn't pay her enough to do that. So she just left her and went about her own business.</p>
<p>She walked into the main room where Suigetsu and Jugo were sitting around the table eating. Just as she sat down to join them the side door opened and he walked inside.</p>
<p>He never looked at them as he sat down and looked outside at the gardens. "Did you bring her back with you?"</p>
<p>Suigetsu had run into a girl a while back asking questions about Sasuke's where-a-bouts and at first thought nothing of it. Until he heard that the girl was going from town to town asking anyone for information on the missing ninja. The girl had black hair, green eyes, and pale skin. He had thought she was going to be easy to find, but when he went back to the village to retrieve the girl, she was no where to be found. When she would pop back up he would send them out again. This time it seems they were lucky enough to find the girl.</p>
<p>"Yeah, though I'm not sure what you wanted her for when you have me." Karin huffed taking a bite of a rice ball she had grabbed. "I didn't think you were into the dark hair and fair skinned type. But I guess I was wrong." She took another bite before continuing. "I mean the girl isn't even attractive. She definitely wouldn't stand out in a crowd-" the rest was lost ad Suigetsu told her once again to shut up.</p>
<p>"She's a little beat up from a group of rouge ninja that ambushed her in the forest, but other than that she seemed fine. A weakling but fine." Suigetsu added before focusing on the food in front of him and digging in.</p>
<p>"Hnn." He sat there for a few minutes before getting up and leaving the room. He walked down the hall until he came to the room he had instructed them to place the girl in.</p>
<p>He opened the door and for a second thought they had brought back the wrong person. The girl laying on the bed didn't fit the description that was given. Instead the girl was blonde and had a tan. The complete opposite. She was definitely someone that would stand out in a crowd, especially with those whiskers.</p>
<p><em> 'Whiskers?'</em> Sasuke moved closer to the girl on the bed and stared down as he took in the similarities between this girl and Naruto. <em>'Impossible. Naruto doesn't have a sister.'</em> As he continued to look the girl over he became more amazed at how much she looked like Naruto. The shade of her hair was the same, she was about the same height he remembered Naruto being the last time he had saw him over two years ago. Hell, even her skin was the same color.</p>
<p>Looking at the girl made him miss Naruto and he hated the her for it. Memories of how he wanted to hold him close or just be by his side came to mind and he looked away. He left the village to get away from Naruto and the feelings he had begun to feel towards the blonde, how dare this girl remind him of them. Just as he was about to storm out of the room in frustration he heard her whisper something in her sleep. Stepping closer he waited for her to speak again. "S-Sasuke" was whispered from the girl's lips before her eyes began to flutter open and he found himself staring into the only pair of eyes he cared to remember. Tears began to fill those familiar blue eyes as she spoke his name again.</p>
<p>"Naruto?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Author's note...again. </strong>
</p>
<p>well another chapter done, I hope you enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Please Review.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>sitting here as I'm posting this, rereading it and editing....damn I messed up a bit later on lol gonna have to make some changes here and there as I go </strong>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong> DISCLAIMER: </strong>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">Last time:</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "S-Sasuke" was whispered from the girl's lips before her eyes began to flutter open and he found himself staring into the only pair of eyes he cared to remember.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Naruto?" </em>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Chapter 3: Memories </strong>
  </span>
</p><p>"Sasuke!" The she whispered excitedly as a grin spread across her lips. "Finally." she almost sighed.</p><p>Sasuke took a step back as the girl's hand reached out to him, causing hurt to flash in her eyes, HIS eyes.</p><p>"Sasuke, it's me. Naruto." The feminine voice said pleadingly. "I promise. It's me. I'm not doing a jutsu or pulling a prank." she moved to sit up, wincing as she did so. '<em>My wounds must have not have fully healed yet. Hey Kurama what's the deal?</em>' She waited for him to answer before calling his name again. <em>'Kurama?... Maybe he's asleep?'</em> she didn't want to start worrying over the lack of response yet, so she lied to herself.</p><p>"How are you a girl? Naruto is a male." Sasuke stated as he watched the girl become silent which was something Naruto didn't have a knack for.</p><p>His voice must have snapped her out of her thoughts for she jumped a little at the sound.</p><p>"Sorry what did you say?" She looked confused and a little shaken though she tried to hide it.</p><p>"Naruto is a male." A talkative, bouncy, extremely energetic, happy male. A male that he went to great lengths to not think about but was constantly there anyway. And now his memories of the male were being thrown in his face and he wasn't happy about it.</p><p>The girl on the bed seemed to look embarrassed as she scratched her cheek with a finger. "Well you see, I was,... but I wasn't at the same time." She tilted her head to the side as though thinking of a way to explain, causing some of her long blonde hair to fall over her shoulder. It really was the same color.</p><p>"When I was born the Fourth Hokage, my father, placed a seal over the one that keeps the Fox inside me so I would grow up as a boy. And apparently being as reckless as I am made the seal break before it was supposed to. So as you can see I'm a girl." She shrugged her shoulders as though it were that easy.</p><p><em> 'She wants me to believe that?'</em> He glared at the girl who looked so much like the boy they were discussing. "How do I know you're not lying? Trying to get close to me by using his name and looking like him?" The thought of someone pulling this kind of stunt on him made is blood boil with rage.</p><p>She nodded her head sadly as she looked to the floor. "I'm not lying, though it would be so much easier if this was all a joke." She stared at the floor noticing that it seemed to blur around the edges.<em> 'What the hell? Kurama?' </em></p><p>"Jokes are supposed to be funny and learning all of this was anything but." She mumbled before she brought her hand to her mouth as her stomach flipped and rolled.</p><p>Sasuke watched as she seemed to sway while holding herself awkwardly, almost as though she were sick.<em> 'I don't think I can recall him ever getting sick. Odd' </em></p><p>Naruto slumped back against the wall as all of her energy seemed to disappear at once, leaving her almost breathless. Her one hand lay resting on her stomach as it continued to roll and flip, while the other just chilled by her side. Sweat broke out along her brow and her eyelids began to droop. <em>'Wh-what's going on-?'</em> her thoughts began to slow down like thick mud.</p><p>He watched for a few minutes as whatever was happening caused her to pass back out. <em>'Maybe one of her injuries was more severe than I was told.;</em> He looked at the girl as her breathing became shallow and a sheen of sweat covered her brow. '<em>I'll have Karin check her over again.'</em></p><p>He looked her over once more marking the similarities and thinking about the possibility of what she was saying to be true.</p><p>If she did turn out to be telling the truth how would he even feel about it, let alone do.</p><p>Sasuke left the room where the girl was currently unconscious, and headed towards the vast library that Orochimaaru had acquired on the most random shit. The collection was partly odd since whenever he or Kabuto came across a book they just picked it up to add to the ever growing collection. There were very few books that could be placed together on the same subject, but hopefully he could find something about the Hokages, since Orochimaru was very interested in them for a while. So maybe he actually went hunting for a couple on the topic.</p><p>After being in there for a couple of hours Karin came searching for him asking if her wanted to hang out.</p><p>Sasuke took a book off the shelf and leafed through it quickly before taking down a different one. "No."</p><p>"Why not Sasuke?" She pouted which made her face funnier looking than usual.</p><p>"Hmn... I need you to look at the girl again to make sure her wounds are healing." He placed another book back on the shelf before taking down another.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye he watched as she scowled, but before the girl could storm out of the room to do as he said he called out to her.</p><p>"Hey, Karin, you're an Uzumaki right?" he held onto the self in front of him as he leaned back to see her better.</p><p>Still scowling she looked at him. "Yeah, why? You know this already, Sas-"</p><p>"What do you know about Kushina Uzumaki?"</p><p>Confusion filled her eyes as she looked at him for a moment. "From what my mother told me she was her cousin and she left our village to live in yours when she was young. Apparently she was married to the Fourth Hokage and they had a child. So there's another Uzumaki out there, somewhere." She closed her eyes for a moment before continuing, "If I remember correctly she and her husband died, I was about five when my mother told me this so it might not be right."</p><p>Sasuke didn't tell her that he knew who the other Uzumaki was or that she was correct. "Do you remember if the baby was a boy or a girl."</p><p>She thought it over a minute trying to remember."Um, I think my mom said that her aunt was excited to be having a granddaughter. Why?"</p><p>Sasuke looked off to the side thinking about what she said and what 'Naruto' told him,<em> 'Maybe the girl wasn't lying.' </em></p><p>"Sasuke why did you want to know? For all I know they're all dead by now." She looked at him as he stood there.</p><p>"Hmm?" He looked back over at Karin remembering that she was still in the room. "No reason, just go check on the girl already." </p><p>Shooting him a confused but pissed off glare she left, muttering as she made her way down the hall.</p><p>'If she is Naruto, then it's a little odd for her wounds not to have healed already.' Sasuke went to place the last book in his hand back on the shelf when he noticed a book title at the end, <strong><em>Uzushiogakure.</em></strong> Recognition sparked at the name and he grabbed it causing a cloud of dust to fall into his face. Waving away the dust he opened the book and while skimming the pages, he came across an interesting passage.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Ablilities:</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> Uzumaki have the ability to quickly heal themselves and others, through consumption of their chakra. It is dangerous, however, to use this ability too regularly. Some members, have also displayed a unique sensory ability as well as the ability to suppress their chakra signature making them undetectable. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Uzumaki also naturally possess incredibly strong life forces. As such, they have very long lifespans and likewise seem to age slower, this also enables them to survive and endure much more severe injuries while likewise able to recover from injuries and exhaustion with much greater efficiency in short periods of time. Some members also possessed a unique form of chakra with special properties which made them especially well-suited to become jinchūriki as well as produce adamantine chains made from their own chakra. These traits are strong enough to survive the removal of tailed beasts, although they are still left severely weakened afterwards. </strong>
</p><p>This made Sasuke's brow furrow in confusion. <em>'Then why did she looks sick? Even without these abilities Naruto has always healed within hours. But she passed out and seemed to have no energy at all.'</em> Sasuke placed the book on the table open to that page and walked out of the room back towards where the girl was.</p><p>Karin was just coming out of the room when he came around the corner.</p><p>"How is she?"</p><p>"I don't know, I couldn't get her to wake up." shrugging her shoulders and tossing her hair out of her face she put her hands in her pockets. "I redressed her wounds, they seem to be free of infection though they're still bleeding a little, which should stop soon. I also put her in a spare nightgown."</p><p>Shocked, he looked at the door, "She still has open wounds that are bleeding?"</p><p>Karin scoffed, "Well yeah, most people who get sliced up like that tend to. For hours or even days after they bleed some." She looked at him like he was stupid. "I mean not everyone heals as fast as I do."</p><p>"No, she heals faster," He opened the door and walked into the room.</p><p>"Heals faster? What do you mean heals faster? I'm an Uzumaki, no one heals faster." She muttered as she followed him into the room, watching as he pulled the nightgown she put her in up to get a look at her wounds. <em>'I wish he'd remove my clothes.''</em> Jealousy flared in her eyes.</p><p>Seeing the red seeping through the fresh bandages caused worry to settle in the pit of his stomach. Looking down at her thigh he remembered that Jugo mentioned they had to pull senbon out of her leg. He removed the bandage hoping that the wounds were gone and that he was worried for nothing. Seeing the wounds on her leg when he removed the last of the cloth caused him to curse, they still looked fresh.</p><p>"Fuck. Something's wrong."</p><p>"What do you mean, she seems fine." Irritated at the attention Sasuke was giving this girl for what seemed to be nothing, she wanted the girl gone.</p><p>"Naruto," Sasuke shook the girl on the bed hoping to wake her up. Karin's eyes went wide in shock as she watched him continue to shake the girl. "Naruto, come on, Dobe wake up."</p><p>Sasuke picked up Naruto and sat with her in his lap and stroked her hair out of her face. Looking up at Karin she gasped seeing his Sharingan before he growled at her to leave. Looking down at Naruto's face, he noticed just how much more feminine it looked, but at the same time how it still looked the same. Her lips were fuller and her cheek bones were sharper giving her a more exotic look, and her jawline was much softer than before. But it was still Naruto no matter how he looked at her.</p><p>He needed her to open her eyes, if only for a second, for what he wanted to do he needed to look into her eyes. That and he never could get enough of them.</p><p>"Naruto, Dobe." He placed his hand on the side of her face before placing his hand on her arm. Feeling guilty for what he was about to do he kissed her forehead.</p><p>"I'm sorry." He closed his eyes as he gathered electric chakra in the palm of his hand intending on shocking her awake with it.</p><p>Her body jerked violently away from his hand as her own came up to cradle the injury, she whimpered and curled further into his lap. Opening her eyes she looked up at him with tears in her eyes and confusion as to why she was hurting.</p><p>As soon as she made eye contact with him he entered her mind.</p><p>
  <strong> As soon as he set foot in her mind he knew it was worse than he thought, he could feel it surrounding him, pressing on him from all sides. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Walking through the water on the floor of her mind was like walking through well water that was up to his knees instead of the soles of his sandals. In the center of the room he saw Kurama out of his cage curled up in a ball as though protecting itself from outside forces. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>As Sasuke drew closer to the fox he noticed that he was holding something. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>No, not something. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Someone. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Naruto was laying between Kurama's tail and belly. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Noticing Sasuke, Kurama began to growl and bare his teeth. "No closer, Uchiha." The anger in his voice convinced Sasuke to stop even though he wanted nothing more than to grab Naruto. "You did this to her!" he snapped his teeth as Sasuke took a step closer, anger flared in the Fox's eyes towards the Uchiha.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> Holding his hands up in the air and shaking his head no, he hoped to show that he meant no harm to either of them and that maybe Kurama would let him closer. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Naruto, there's something wrong with him." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"HER." Kurama growled. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Yes, sorry, her. There's something wrong. She's not healing." he motioned towards Naruto laying there as though she were sleeping. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"I know." he growled shifting his tail so Sasuke couldn't see Naruto as though looking at her would make it worse. "She released me right before she collapsed in here." He continued to growl, "And it's YOUR fault!" he roared. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"I didn't do anything I swear." Sasuke stated firmly, wanting nothing more for the fox to believe him. "Don't you remember how Naruto came looking for me and was ambushed on the way?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"LIES!" snapped the Fox in anger, his fur bristling and standing on end. "YOU UCHIHA ALWAYS LIE! MANIPULATERS AND LIARS!"</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "No!" Sasuke argued, growing frustrated. 'whatever is causing this must have affected Kurama's memory.' running his hands through his hair he sighed trying to think of a way to convince the Fox. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"How can I convince you that I'm not lying, that I didn't hurt her?" He asked not wanting to get any closer to the fox without him believing him. Who knows what would happen if Sasuke and Kurama fought in here, what kind of damage it would do.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> Growling Kurama didn't answer right away causing Sasuke to become even more irritated and cross his arms over his chest and glower at him, waiting. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Let ME into YOUR mind Uchiha. Let me see your memories and proof that you did not do this to her. THEN I shall see what you can do for her." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Shocked Sasuke dropped his arms to his sides, he didn't know that it was possible for the Fox to communicate that way with anyone besides his host. "I didn't think you could." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Ordinarily I can't, but you are here." He pointed out, still not allowing Sasuke near, hiding Naruto. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Okay then, lets do it." Sasuke sat on the floor, the water even though it was there did nothing to his clothes. 'Odd' "So what do I have-" Sasuke grunted in discomfort as the Fox scoured through his memories of the past few weeks. He seemed to be very interested at how many times Naruto came to mind even though Sasuke hadn't seen him in years, and the feelings that came along with those thoughts. He lingered on the memories of when Sasuke first saw Naruto in the room on the bed, and how oddly she was behaving, playing the memory slowly as though paying close attention to the small details. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>When Kurama came across the passage Sasuke had read and the short conversation he had with Karin outside the room about her wounds a low rumble echoed in his ears. Apparently he agreed that something was very wrong. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sasuke opened his eyes to find himself laying on his side and slowly sat up again. His head gave a dull throb in protest as he began to rise to his feet and stood before the fox once more.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "Do you believe me now?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kurama slowly drew his tail away from Naruto and looked at her. "They poisoned her."</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "They who?" Sasuke asked as he made his way over to the girl. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"I do not recall their name, only that they, like the Akatsuki, have been after the tailed beasts, though for a lot longer. So long in fact that we thought they didn't exist anymore, or at least weren't an issue." His voice rumbled through the room as he went on, "They made a poison that separates the chakras of the beast and the host so they can no longer contact or help each other." Sasuke sat down next to Naruto as he listened to Kurama, and gathered her into his arms once again. </strong>
</p><p>
  <b>"It causes the host to become sick and weak, locking away their own chakra away from them and eventually knocking them unconscious, while us beasts are trapped in their mind behind the seal unable to help. Unable to even talk to them." Memories floated behind Kurama's eyes. "Somehow Naruto was able to break through for a moment to free me from my sealed prison before the poison became too much. Even now I am unable to wake her." The Fox sounded lost as he stared at the girl he had been sealed to for the past eighteen years, the only host to become his friend. He needed her. </b>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Do you know of a way for me to help her?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"You are I am assuming using the Sharingan to be here correct?" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Yeah, it was the only way I could think of to get here." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The Fox looked at him as though to say 'DUH' before looking back to Naruto. "Then you should be able to wake her fairly easily since you can touch her and I cannot." He seemed to be gathering his thoughts before continuing. "When she wakes up the poison is going to attack me and my chakra, she will not be able to get any help from me, it will render me unconscious. It will not kill me, since that was never their goal, but soon after she wakes it will begin to sap her strength, at most she'll have three days before she's like this again. And then it will only be a matter of days before both of us are dead." Kurama curled up around Naruto and Sasuke as though seeking comfort. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Dread coursed through Sasuke at Kurama's words. 'No,' He couldn't believe something as small as this would be able to do something so terrible to someone as strong as the Dobe. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Naruto. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Dead. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Impossible.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "How sure are you of this Kurama?" Sasuke whispered as he held her tighter to his chest as though it would magically make everything better. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"</strong>
  <b>Unfortunately I am perfectly sure of this. They got their hands on the five tailed beast, Kokuo, over seven hundred years ago and she nearly died before a powerful healer got to her just in time. Kokuo's host didn't fare so well though. He died before the healer got there by a few minutes, so the healer had to remove Kokuo from her host and place her in healing trance inside an inanimate object for fifty years." He shifted uncomfortably as he told Sasuke this since the memories alone were unpleasant, remembering how small and weak Kokuo had become by the time she was saved and how much pain her host had been in before he died. Back then Kurama hadn't spared a thought for the human since they were beneath him, but since Naruto his views have changed and he would never want her hurt like that. Like this. </b>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Only one person has the ability and the strength to get the poison out of her system." </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Who?" Fearing that he knew the answer but hoping he was wrong, because returning there would take Naruto away from him just as surely as the poison would by itself.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> "Tsunade."</strong>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Author's note: </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Well then.</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Being Polite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's note: </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>DISCLAIMER: </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>I DO NOT OWN NARUTO</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <em> Last time:</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strong> "Only one person has the ability and the strength to get the poison out of her system." "Who?" Fearing that he knew the answer but hoping he was wrong, because returning there would take Naruto away from him as well as the poison would by itself. "Tsunade."</strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong> Chapter 4: Being Polite</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strong> ~~**~~ INSIDE NARUTO'S MIND (STILL)~~**~~</strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strong> "Tsunade?" Sasuke looked at the Fox who stared at him confirming what he heard as correct. "So I get Naruto back only to loose my best friend again?" Sasuke scoffed and clutched the girl to him as though she were going to evaporate into thin air any second. "If I go back there, I might as well walk straight into their prison. There's no way they'd let me walk around free, let alone anywhere near Naruto. Hell they'll react the same way you did, assume it was me who did this." "I'm sorry, Uchiha. Based on what I saw of your memories and thoughts of her I know how you feel." His voice rumbled through Sasuke providing a small measure of comfort though not much. "But you are the only one who can get her there with a chance at saving her in time." Kurama purposly didn't mention himself since he knew that most of Naruto's problems were because of him, including their current situation. And Sasuke knew that as well even if he did come out right and accuse him of it the way Kurama did. "Even if I travel as fast as I can without stopping for anything but sleep and food, I won't get there before she's like this again. It would take me four days at least." Sasuke looked into one of the Fox's red eyes. "And that's if I don't run into any problems." "I'm sure you'll find a way to get her there before it's too late for her." Feeling guilty for using his confused feelings against him in such a way, Kurama looked away. "It's time for you to wake her up, the sooner you head out the better. Just remember what I said, she's going to be very weak and we both know she'll lie about it so no one worries. Also know this, her wounds will not heal until the poison is removed. The bleeding may stop here and there but it will just keep starting back up again, it was to make sure that their prey stayed weakened." Nodding in understanding Sasuke stood up with Naruto in his arms. "Yeah that sounds like Naruto." Looking at the Fox one last time before doing what he had to, "This will be the last we hear from you before Naruto is better correct?" "Correct." "Then know this, I am doing this for Naruto, NOT you." "I know." Kurama's eyes widened as he watched Sasuke walk over to where the water was deeper, almost to his knees, and with a straight face dropped Naruto. As soon as Naruto hit the water he felt the poison begin it's attack on him making him glad that he was already laying down since he was sure it would have caused him to fall over. He fought the overwhelming force stealing his energy long enough to see Naruto fly out of the water sputtering and cursing and both her and Sasuke disappearing, before his eyes closed. </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strong>~~**~~ end of Naruto's funky mind prison~~**~~ </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>Sasuke woke to Naruto's fist hitting him in the jaw as she swung her arms about wildly.</p>
<p>"Did you have to do that?! What if I had drowned in there?" She yelled before wincing in pain from her wounds. "Ow," Looking down at herself in confusion she checked the bandages covering various parts of herself, seeing that some were sticky with blood and sore as hell.</p>
<p>She then noticed she was in Sasuke's lap and he was rubbing the side of his jaw where she socked him. Blushing she looked back at her bandages, it was safer. "Why are these still here? And why am I still in pain?" Fingering the bandage material she tugged it up away from the skin on her thigh. Holes from where she remembered the senbon puncturing the muscle glared back at her.</p>
<p>"None of this makes sense. And why can't I talk to Kurama." She began muttering to herself and Sasuke took hold of her chin making her look at him. She became quiet as she stared at him before he spoke.</p>
<p>"Naruto, you've been poisoned. Your connection with Kurama has been blocked and you cannot access his chakra either." Panic and disbelief filled her eyes and before she could protest or start an argument he continued to tell her what he and Kurama had spoke of. "He's still there, he's just unconscious and unable to wake up until the poison is gone. He said that it was created by a group of ninja like the Akatsuki but far older, they disappeared for a while there and everyone forgot about them."</p>
<p>Naruto still didn't look like she quite believed him, like she was still trying to get Kurama to answer her. And if Sasuke had to guess what she was saying, it probably went along the lines of 'lazy asshole, get up and answer me'.</p>
<p>"Naruto," trying to get her attention was like trying to catch water in a cup that had holes in the bottom. "Hey, Dobe." That seemed to work for her eyes actually stayed focused. "There's more. The poison is still affecting you too, and from what the Fox said, you will only be able to stay awake for another three days from now before you're knocked out again. Your energy will slowly be drained and blocked out of your reach starting in a few hours. If you aren't cured within days after that both you and the Fox will die."</p>
<p>Tears welled in Naruto's as she caught on to what he was saying. She needed Tsunade. They had to go back to Konohagakure, and Sasuke was going to get caught, they would take him away. And it was all her fault, because she knew Sasuke wasn't going to let her die. Especially if he could stop it.</p>
<p>Closing her eyes, letting the tears trail down her cheeks, she turned her head away. She hated the idea of being the reason he was going back only to go to jail, and they were going to blame him. There wasn't anything she could do about it either since apparently it didn't take a few hours to take affect, she could feel it slowly making her feel weaker every minute. If she tried to argue with him he would just wait until she was weak enough that she couldn't put up a fight and carry her off. Whether she wanted it or not.</p>
<p>Wiping the tears away with the heel of her palm she sniffed before making eye contact with Sasuke again. <em>'There's no way Sasuke is going to be able to get there in time.'</em> She could at least help them get as far as they could with her help before she became a huge burden.</p>
<p>"When do we leave?"</p>
<p>Shocked that she wasn't arguing or throwing a fit about it, his thoughts took a moment to catch up with him. "Uhh, we can leave within thehour." Blinking a few times trying to understand her thinking. "I just have to let Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin know." Naruto stared at him as though to ask why they would be coming. Rubbing the back of his head absently, "I guess you could say they're my friends, I found them while out and about. And I'm going to need Karin to keep an eye on your wounds while we travel."</p>
<p>"Why?"</p>
<p>"Kurama said that as long as the poison is in your system, they won't heal and will continue to stay open and bleeding." He looked down at her stomach and her side where he knew the worst of her wounds were. He knew those were going to cause her the most problems, but didn't say anything.</p>
<p>Nodding her head in understanding she stood up from his lap but had to grab her head as the dizziness got to her. <em>'OOh that's going to get annoying fast.'</em> Looking at Sasuke as he reached a hand towards her incase she needed help she made herself a promise. <em>'As soon as I am better, no, as soon as I wake up from this, I WILL make sure Sasuke has his freedom. And anyone who stands in my way will pay.' </em></p>
<p>Waving away Sasuke's concern and help she made her way to the corner where she saw her clothes, clean and folded in a chair. She gently picked them up and turned to stare at Sasuke.</p>
<p>"I'll, uuh, just wait outside, until you're done." He opened the door and stepped out but left it open a crack. "Just call if you need help, Dobe."</p>
<p>Grunting she placed one foot into her pants and then another. She had to lean against the wall to wait as the dizziness came back before pulling the black material up her thighs and carefully over the now bulky bandage on her thigh. Groaning she jerked the material over and finally all the way up she fastened the ties to hold them together.</p>
<p>She grabbed the hem of the nightgown, wincing as the bandages tugged at her skin when she lifted her arms above her head, she had to admit that she was grateful that she normally had the ability to heal fast. Holding her tank top in her hand she stared at it.<em> 'I miss that stupid Fox. It hasn't even been that long since I was attacked and heard from him last, but still I feel so lonely now. Like something is missing.'</em></p>
<p>Wiping a tear she noticed on the tip of her nose away she shrugged into her tank top, wincing again as she moved wrong tugging at the wounds again. Looking at her weapons pouch and her bag she didn't even bother to put them on, though she did wonder how they got there, carrying them would just tire her out faster. <em>'maybe one of his friends grabbed it?' </em>She did however put her jacket on since she had a feeling she was going to need it to keep warm.</p>
<p>"I'm all done, I just need to put my shoes on." Tossing her gear onto the floor she sat in the chair trying to ignore the soreness she felt whenever she moved. Naruto reached for her sandals under the chair and began to put them on her feet as Sasuke came back into the room. "I'm going to need someone to carry those for me." She pointed to the gear on the floor by the chair she was sitting in before leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. Her blonde hair fell forward and she pushed it back wishing she had something to tie it back with, Karin it seems had taken hers.</p>
<p>"Jugo can carry them. He won't mind." Reaching into his pockets Sasuke pulled out Naruto's headband, offering it to her.</p>
<p>Seeing the headband made her eyes light up and she took it, placing around her neck and tying it. Moving it to her forehead she grinned at him. "Thank you." It would keep her hair out of her face at least.</p>
<p>"No problem Dobe, I know how much it means to you." Not for the first time Naruto remembered Sasuke's own headband she had marked and how he didn't wear it. "Ready?" He reached down and picked up her gear, slinging her back onto his shoulder.</p>
<p>Nodding she stood up slowly not wanting to fall over before they had even started.<em> 'How am I ever going to keep up if standing makes me this dizzy? And it's only supposed to get worse.?'</em>  The idea of not being able to move on her own and passing out without knowing when she would wake up again scared her. Not that she was going to tell anyone that. She was going to tough it out for as long as she could, maybe even more, determined not to be too much of a burden than she already was. Naruto felt guilty enough that Sasuke was going back the way they were, with a high chance of being thrown in prison.</p>
<p>Following Sasuke out of the compound that they were in, they met Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin outside. Karin shot Naruto a glare from her place slightly behind Suigetsu, but Naruto decided to ignore it. Sasuke, seeing the look decided that before they reached the village he was going to have a talk with Karin. Actually he was going to need to have a talk with all three of them before they reached the village. He didn't want them to attack any of the ninja there if things went the way he thought they would. He didn't want them being thrown in to the cell next to him if he could help it since it was a real posibility.</p>
<p>They were going to make sure that the ninja took Naruto straight to Tsunade because chances were they would be spotted well before they made it inside the village. And he needed them to take care of her, not trying to do what they thought was right by him.</p>
<p>"Hey man who's the girly? She looks a lot different than when we brought her here last night." Suigetsu commented leaning on his sword.</p>
<p>"This is Naruto."</p>
<p>The silence was deafening as they looked from Sasuke to Naruto and back again before Karin spoke. "Naruto is a guy, Sasuke. This-This person is most definitely a GIRL. I know, I dressed her and took care of her wounds." She gestured towards the girl who was standing way to close to Sasuke for her liking, before crossing her arms over her chest and glaring.</p>
<p>Sighing in frustration Sasuke was about to reply when Naruto herself spoke up, "Yes, for sixteen years of my life that's what I thought too. Turns out life is more of a bitch than you could imagine. Now I as we can all see I am a girl."</p>
<p>Shrugging her shoulders Naruto walked over to the big guy with the orange hair who she assumed was Jugo, the other guy just didn't seem like he would be him. When she got close enough to the big guy she reached out and tapped him on the shoulder even though he had watched her come over.</p>
<p>He arched an eyebrow at her like okay what do you want. Sasuke watched with his hands on his hips as she led Jugo a few feet away.</p>
<p>She then motioned with her hand for him to come closer, so he bent forward a little bit for her to whisper in his ear. Sasuke really wanted to know what the hell she was up to, the sight of her talking to Jugo, well any guy for that matter, caused jealousy to bite at the lower parts of his stomach. Just like when Naruto would talk to girls when she looked like boy, Sasuke would get the same feeling.</p>
<p>"Hey between you and me you seem friendlier than the other guy so I have a favor to ask you." Jugo grunted in acknowledgement and nodded for her to continue. "I-I was poisoned when I got ambushed," She looked away, towards the ground. "And it's going to render me unconscious in less than three days, I'm not sure exactly when but I need someone to carry me while the group travels. And I really don't want to be any more trouble for Sasuke than I already am." Naruto looked back up at the big man. "Sasuke thinks I'll be able to stay awake for three but I can already tell I won't. But before that happens I would like to travel as much as I can while I can and that means I can't carry my gear," Naruto put her hands in her pockets. "Can you carry them for me?"</p>
<p>Jugo looked at the small girl in front of him shocked. Usually he was just told what to do and he did it. "S-sure." Naruto grinned at him and gave him a quick hug before walking back over to Sasuke who seemed a little mad about something. <em>'Oh well, not my problem'</em> she shrugged as she got closer to him before stopping in front of him and clasping her hands behind her back.</p>
<p>"Ready." She said as she cocked her head to the side. "Jugo said he'd carry my gear, I didn't feel right not asking him to do it."</p>
<p>"You sure you want to travel in your condition?" He asked.</p>
<p>She playfully smacked his arm. "You and I both know I've had worse than a few cuts and some fatigue."</p>
<p><em>'Except then there wasn't any real threat of you dying.'</em> Sasuke thought sourly, though he was glad that for now she was acting ok even if he knew she was in pain. <em>'Maybe I could get Karin to lend her some chakra, but then again if Naruto can't reach the Fox's chakra to help her, chances are Karin won't be able to help either. Besides I doubt I would be able to get Naruto to bite her anyway.' </em></p>
<p>"Alright then lets go."</p>
<p>They had been traveling for a few hours, almost six, when Sasuke noticed that Naruto was starting to slow down. Reducing his own speed he fell back next to her, the first thing he noticed was her labored breathing and the thin sheen of sweat on her brow.</p>
<p>She glanced over at him flashing him a smile right before she placed her foot wrong causing her to slip. Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched her try to grab the branch using her own chakra focused in the palm of her hand before that too slipped. He focused his chakra in his feet and pushed off the branch hoping to catch her before she hit the ground when a blur caught her and landed at the base of the tree.</p>
<p>Jugo was setting her on her feet when Sasuke touched the ground and he nodded his thanks as he walked over to them.</p>
<p>Naruto was leaning heavily against the tree when he made it over to them, and he heard Karin and Suigetsu land not far behind.</p>
<p>"What happened?" Karin asked sounding annoyed that they had stopped, shooting a glare towards the blonde ninja. She noticed that the girl's chakra levels seemed to be very low considering how how powerful the girl had seemed before.</p>
<p>Looking at Naruto, Sasuke decided that they should rest for half an hour and see if she got any better before moving on. He honestly was surprised she made it this far before stopping, though he was sure if her body hadn't given up she would have still kept moving.</p>
<p>Suddenly the smell of blood hit Sasuke's nose and he took in Naruto's appearance even closer, noticing that her black shirt was soaked he reached over and grabbed the hem, yanking it up. The bandages were completly red.</p>
<p>"H-Hey! Sasuke what-"</p>
<p>"How long has it been bleeding Naruto?" She looked away from him as her face flushed.</p>
<p>"I don't-"</p>
<p>"Don't lie to me Naruto. You had to have known you were-are bleeding, your shirt is soaked! And your bandages are completely red!" Angry that she would do this to herself Sasuke pushed away from her and stomped away a short distance noticing out of the corner of his eye that Jugo's shirt had some blood on it as well.</p>
<p>"I didn't want to slow us down." She whispered still trying to catch her breath.</p>
<p>Pissed, he stormed back over to her. "You didn't want to slow us down?! What about you?!" He gestured at her slumped form still leaning against the tree, barely able to hold herself up, let alone travel for any distance. "Are you trying to kill yourself faster?" He almost yelled, mad at himself for not stopping sooner or to check on her, mostly for forgetting how reckless she could be.</p>
<p>Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo watched from a short distance away from the two, not wanting to get too close to Sasuke when he seemed to be so angry. Past experience told them that someone usually got hurt when he was that pissed off. So they were understandably confused when nothing happened other than him yelling and stomping around.</p>
<p>"Karin!" Sasuke barked causing the girl to jump. "Check her over and change her bandages." Glaring at Naruto he pointed at her, "Don't do this again. Jugo, Suigetsu I'll be back in about twenty minutes, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." And he disappeared before anyone could argue.</p>
<p>Seeing that Sasuke was gone Naruto closed her eyes and let herself fall, as her legs wouldn't hold her up anymore anyway. She barely noticed that she never hit the ground when everything went black.</p>
<p>"Why are we going through so much trouble for this girl? Isn't she the enemy?" Karin asked as she moved Naruto to where she could get better access to the soiled bandages.</p>
<p>"Not according to Sasuke." came the response from Suigetsu. "I doubt he would have offered to take her back, let alone gone with her if she was his enemy."</p>
<p>"But isn't she one of the ninja who is looking for him, to take him back to her village, a village where he's a wanted criminal?" She huffed cutting away the bandages on her abdomen first, becoming confused at the sight of the still fresh looking gashes. Shrugging she grabbed fresh cloth strips from her bag.</p>
<p>"Actually I think she's the one who marked his ninja headband, his best friend." Responded Jugo.</p>
<p>Startled she looked up at him, before looking back at the form of the slight girl on the forest floor. Karin sat back on her heels. "What makes you suggest that?"</p>
<p>"I doubt Sasuke would help just anyone, get mad at them, and just storm off without hitting them."</p>
<p>"I guess that makes sense." She finished bandaging up the blonde before standing again. "Though it's not like we could ask him, without him, well you know, being all Sasuke."</p>
<p>Sasuke didn't go too far, just far enough to be out of hearing range, not sight, though it wasn't like they could see him unless he wanted them to. He just didn't want to let the Dobe out of his sight, so when she fell to the ground he almost went back to check on her, until he saw Jugo catch her and set her down gently.</p>
<p>He sat on one of the branches about fifty feet in the air and watched as Karin took care of Naruto.</p>
<p><em> 'What am I going to do with her? I can't believe she did that. Actually, I can, it's typical Naruto behavior. But knowing what's at stake?'</em> He cradled his head in his hands and took a deep breath to calm himself.<em> 'Maybe I should just carry her for the rest of the journey, that way she can't do this to herself again. Jugo, Suigetsu and I can trade off carrying her so none of us get too tired.'</em></p>
<p><em> 'She's going to kill me before the Leaf has a chance to even try.'</em> Draping his arm over his knee he leaned back, looking up at the canopy of leaves. <em>'This is all I needed right now. Why did Naruto have to come back into my life now? As a girl no less. As though things weren't complicated enough when she as a male.'</em> He picked a leaf off a near by branch and twisted it between his fingers causing it to spin.<em> 'Though I guess Naruto being a girl would make things easier. Not that I would get the chance to know. Why am I even doing this? Risking my life for hers?.' </em></p>
<p>Memories of him and Naruto and team seven played before his mind's eye. Seeing Naruto's doofy grin at accomplishing something, Sakura blushing as she tried to talk to him about anything. Sasuke grunted as the memory of the two times him and Naruto had kissed by accident popped into his head as well, and the feelings he had felt afterwards. The confusion, the heat, the brief thoughts of wanting to do it again, and the shame.</p>
<p>If Sasuke was honest with himself, those feelings and thoughts were one of the main reasons he left. So why was he going back?</p>
<p>The memory of how she felt in his arms, holding her close and vulnerable came to mind. She was a lot softer now, smaller too. Holding her felt right. Like he was finally home, where he wanted to be. He felt at peace with her, except for the 'she's dying' bit, he liked those feelings. And for the briefest of moments he wanted to kiss her again, to see if it was like before, him wanting more. Not that he deserved to with everything he'd done to her. The pain he'd caused, and the heartache.</p>
<p>Maybe for that reason alone he was doing this.</p>
<p>To pay for what he had done to the only real friend he had, the only person besides Itachi that he had ever cared for in any way.</p>
<p>Sasuke made up his mind to have them take turns carrying Naruto since he decided that he wanted her to stay awake as long as possible. Her pride be damned, he was going to make sure she got to the village with enough time for Tsunade to help her. Even if they killed him on sight he was going to do it, he just hoped that they would listen long enough to know what was wrong with her.</p>
<p>Deciding that he'd been gone long enough and that Karin should be done with Naruto by now, he jumped from the branch he was on to the ground.</p>
<p>It would probably be better for everyone involved if they left while Naruto wasn't awake to fight them on it.</p>
<p>He'd deal with her later on his own terms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong> Author's note: </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>so here's another chapter I hope you enjoyed it.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong> Please review.</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Revelations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Well here's another chapter up! I hope you enjoy it!</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>I also would like to thank Arlovebird for their wonderful comments!</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">DISCLAIMER: </span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <em> Last time:</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em> It would probably be better for everyone involved if they left while Naruto wasn't awake to fight them on it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> He'd deal with her later on his own terms.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u"> Chapter 5: Revelations</span>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Naruto woke to the gentle feeling of being carried, each time the person's foot would lightly touch the ground and leap off again, the motion would cause her to sway a little. If she hadn't just woken it up it would probably lull her to sleep. Her arms were hanging over someone's neck and her legs were held tightly, with their arms wrapped around her thighs.</p>
<p><em> 'Why am I being carried? Why is the day almost over, that doesn't seem right.'</em> Her thoughts were sluggish and refused to provide answers she sought causing her brow to furrow in confusion. <em>'I remember leaving the village a while ago and following a lead on Teme, but why...'</em> Her eyes caught sight of the ninja traveling beside who ever was carrying her a few feet away. Her appearance struck a chord as familiar, her red hair standing out against the green of the leaves behind her. The deep red of her hair seemed almost match the color of blood in the light of the setting sun.</p>
<p>When she looked over at Naruto she seemed to roll her eyes before dropping back a few feet. "She's awake Sasuke."</p>
<p>Memories of the past few days began to filter through her mind as the person under her 'hnn'ed in response. She remembered Sasuke being angry at her for not asking to stop sooner and all the blood, and the pain. Oh boy the pain, though she was sure it was the blood loss that caused her to pass out.</p>
<p><em> 'Sasuke.'</em> She snuggled into his back, wrapping her arms more securely around his shoulders, facing off to the side, knowing he wasn't going to let her down anytime soon. Not with the way he yelled at her before.</p>
<p>"How are you feeling?" His voice rumbled in her ears, full of warmth and something she couldn't name, and his grip on her thighs tightened. <em>'Maybe concern?' </em></p>
<p>"Tired." she whispered causing her breath to tickle his ear since she had to turn towards him so he could hear her. <em>'Maybe I over did it'</em>  The thought of being unable to wake up even sooner than their estimated time made her heart ache. She didn't want to tell him that she was cold as well because she knew he would stop, and they needed to get her back to the village as soon as they could. They had already stopped long enough because of her, it was bad enough that he was going to have to pay for taking her back even though he didn't do anything. The thought of him getting thrown in jail for any reason caused tears to form in her eyes. She never wanted to find him again only to have the rick of losing him just as fast. She just wanted to be near him again, get her friend back. she just missed him damnit.</p>
<p>Feeling her warm breath on his ear sent a shiver down his spine and he had to close his eyes and bite back a groan that threatened to escape. His mind raced to thoughts of feeling her breath tickle other parts of him. With an effort he slammed the door on those thoughts and brought his focus back to the present where Naruto was sick. Those type of feelings or thoughts wouldn't help anyone right now. They still had two more days to go before they reached the village, and only a matter of time before Naruto wouldn't be able to wake up he wasn't sure she was going to this time since it had been over twelve hours since their last stop.</p>
<p>"We'll be stopping soon for the night Dobe, don't worry." Sasuke lightly touched his head to hers in a show of comfort, she lightly pushed back and hummed her agreement.</p>
<p>Noticing that her eyes were closed again Naruto opened them to look around. Suigetsu came into view before dropping out again before Karin popped up in his place. They moved well together, almost as well as her and Sasuke, before he left that is. Mentally shrugging to herself. <em>'We probably still work well together.'</em> She smiled slightly at the thought, holding onto him a little tighter. <em>'I can't believe I found him. I missed him so much. I'm sorry about how much I complained about him Kur-'</em> Remembering that she couldn't talk to Kurama caused any happiness she was feeling slip away.<em> 'I miss you too.'</em></p>
<p>Sasuke stopped not long after deciding that they needed a break, they'd been going nonstop for over twelve hours thanks to some Military Ration Pills that Karin learned to make a while back. She can't make a lot of them at a time since the ingredients are hard to come by as a rouge ninja, so they each had three a piece with them. Minus the ones they took after Naruto passed out. They had thought about giving one to her to see if it would help her any but Sasuke vetoed that idea because of her blood loss. He explained to them that if they were to give her any she would just keep going until she passed out and dropped, or bled to death.</p>
<p>He made his way over to the base of a near by tree and set Naruto on her feet, reaching out a steadying hand as she swayed, before sitting down slumped against the base. He noticed that she was beginning to shake every few seconds or so, which made him angry with himself. <em>'Of course she's cold!'</em> Making his way over to where Jugo was standing drinking from his canteen, Sasuke motioned for him to hand over Naruto's pack. <em>'And of course she wouldn't say anything about it. Then again I should have known better.'</em></p>
<p>He dug in it for her blanket finding it at the bottom, before dropping the bag and it's contents on the ground and stomping back to the frustrating blonde ninja shivering her ass off. Tucking the blanket around her small form he called out for Suigetsu to come over.</p>
<p>"Hey go gather some firewood and set up a perimeter around camp."</p>
<p>"Yeah, whatever." he scoffed, before taking off to do as he said.</p>
<p>Karin watched Sasuke interact with the blonde girl, jealousy rearing it's ugly head again. What was so great about such a weak girl? <em>'She couldn't even prevent herself from being prisoned, granted it was a poison that only this ninja they were going to see might be able to cure, and no one knew existed but still.'</em>  She really didn't like to see Sasuke paying any girl attention, he was hers. He never showed anyone anything more than a look of distain, but this girl he smiles at and talks to as though she was the most precious thing in the world. It made her angry that did.</p>
<p>"Karin." Sasuke's voice called out to her.</p>
<p>"What?" She placed her hands on her hips. <em>'Bet he asks me to check the girl out to make sure she's ok. I don't care if she's his best friend, I don't like this arrangement.'</em> When he tilted his head to motion for her to come closer she did, her arms falling to her sides as she let out a heavy sigh.</p>
<p>"You might want to be nicer."</p>
<p>Rolling her eyes she pulled the blanket away and lifted up the blonde's shirt to examine her bandages. They were a little blood stained but nothing too serious so she pulled the shirt back down, feeling her thigh, she noted that it was dry so that wound at least hadn't begun bleeding again. Karin took note of how her breathing was shallow and that her complexion was quite pale compared to when they started over twenty hours ago. Her skin was also cool to the touch, most likely from the blood loss and the exertion, if they were lucky she wouldn't develop a fever in the next few hours.</p>
<p>"She needs rest and to be kept warm so she doesn't go into shock, she's also going to need to eat and get some fluids into her."</p>
<p>"I'm right here you know," Piercing blue eyes eyed Karin as she removed her hands from Naruto. Sasuke smirked as Naruto held her side and tried to make herself more comfortable and Karin mumbled under her breath as she got up to leave. "Thank you for checking my wounds."</p>
<p>"Sasuke asked me to." Was all she said before going over to where Jugo and Suigetsu were making a fire and laying out their bedrolls. Karin plopped herself down at the base of a tree slightly away from the guys but close enough to still feel the heat of the flames once they got it started.</p>
<p>"She's nice." Naruto grumbled as she moved to stand up, knowing that it would probably be better to stay on the ground. But she wanted to be warm and the fire was over there. So gripping the blanket that hung on her shoulders like a cape she took her first steps.</p>
<p>Sasuke went to give her a hand that she shrugged off, she wanted to do something on her own damnit. Hobbling, she slowly made her way over to the fire they finally managed to light, why Sasuke didn't offer to use his fire jutsu to get it going she didn't know, but whatever.</p>
<p>"She's nice enough when you get to know her." he said, causing her to scoff, as he kept a slow pace beside her incase she needed help. He knew she didn't want it but he was going to offer anyway, just incase. Reaching the edge of the fire's warmth Naruto lowered herself to the ground with as much grace as a dropped stone. But she made it on her own so she felt good about herself, well as good as one can feel having their energy slowly drained by poison.</p>
<p>Shrugging at her internal monologue, Naruto pulled her blanket tighter around herself, her teeth beginning to chatter together violently and her muscles beginning to spaz. She could feel her eyelids beginning to droop even though she just woke up not too long ago. <em>"Won't be long now, I suppose."</em> she sighed to herself and felt Sasuke's nearness as he sat down next to her.</p>
<p>Before she could think better of it she scooted her ass closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Boney for sure, but still more comfortable than lying on the ground.</p>
<p>Slightly shocked at her actions Sasuke sat still as she made herself comfortable while shivering and wrapping the blanket tighter around herself. He could hear her teeth as they clattered from not being able to stay warm, which made him feel feel bad, not being able to do anything more for her. Knowing it was only going to get worse the next few days. He wrapped his arm around her back and held her closer.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry."</p>
<p>Sasuke looked down at her blonde head confused. "Why?"</p>
<p>"Because," she paused as though to gather her thoughts together, "because if I wasn't in this predicament we could be spending time together catching up instead of heading back to where everyone hates you and wants to kill you. " Naruto smiled softly. She felt him chuckle beside her as her eye lids began to grow heavier. "We could go on an adventure and not come back for a long time." she laughed quietly to herself at the thought. She pictured her and Sasuke camping out in some remote town buying ramen.</p>
<p>Sasuke's eyebrows rose at her words and couldn't help the smile that graced his face.</p>
<p>Seeing Sasuke acting so chummy with the blonde girl caused Karin's blood to heat, especially since he was smiling at her. They had been sitting there by the fire for a while now, cuddling close, and chatting. Even though the blonde looked like shit Karin didn't care, he was <em>her</em>  Sasuke.</p>
<p>"Where would we go on this adventure?" He asked quietly resting his head lightly on hers.</p>
<p>"Oh, to the desert. We could visit Garra along the way. We would find an oasis and stay there for a short time before naturally a bunch of rouge ninja found us." She giggled softly. "And you know we'd have to kick their asses for interrupting our peace and quiet." shrugging her shoulders she continued. "And then we would travel on to find a new place to hide out away from everybody."</p>
<p>"That sounds like fun, but could we not do the rouge ninja? I think you have had your fill of those to last a lifetime." Sasuke murmured, he could think of other things he'd rather do than beat up ninja at a peaceful oasis with her. Things he had wanted to do while she was still a boy, that wouldn't be looked down on quite so much now. Granted he knew that anything to do with Naruto would be frowned upon since he was technically a rouge ninja himself and wanted for crimes he had committed, and she, from rumors, was loved in the village, but he didn't care.</p>
<p>Smiling to herself Naruto had to agree with him. "I wouldn't mind giving a few of them a piece of my mind for doing this." she waved her had throught he air vaguely indicating the whole sistuation.</p>
<p>Humming in agreement Sasuke didn't say anything, instead he was thinking of the ways he'd like to give them 'a piece of his mind' too.</p>
<p>Sasuke looked at the sky through the canopy of leaves above, the sun had set a couple hours ago while they sat there talking. Naruto seemed to be getting more and more tired as the time went on and he wondered how much longer she would be able to stay awake. He knew she was strong but he also knew that even she had her limits. Unconsciously holding her closer to himself as though it would fix everything and keep her there with him he burried his face in her hair.</p>
<p>"Sasuke?"</p>
<p>"Hmmnn?"</p>
<p>"I'm scared." she sounded so small as her hands grabbed ahold of his shirt as tightly as they could like it was a lifeline, which for her right now it might as well be.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I will get you to Tsunade in time. I swear it." Swallowing the hard lump that had formed he continued. "You are going to wake up again." he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself this time.</p>
<p>"I ... trust you." she whispered as her eyes closed and her grip let go. He adjusted her so that she was mostly curled up in his lap as he rocked her back and forth trying to comfort her even though she couldn't feel it where she was.</p>
<p>Her breathing was slow and shallow and he knew even though she looked like she was resting peacefully, that she was anything but. She was effectively trapped in her own mind and the stakes were dangerously high as to whether he'd see her again open her eyes. He really hoped he wasn't lying to her when he told her she'd wake again.</p>
<p>"Finally." came the snide comment from behind him. Keeping his temper in check was always harder to do when it involved Naruto on a good day, today wasn't a good day but he managed to reel most of it in.</p>
<p>"She deserves your respect. She deserves your respect more than anyone else alive."</p>
<p>"Respect my ass!" Karin said getting angry, that girl didn't deserve anything from her, least of all that. "She is the reason you're going to be imprisoned and may die! I say we just leave her here!" She swept her arm angrily through the air motioning to the unconscious blonde in his lap. "She is nothing but a hindrance and we would be better off leaving her behind!" Glaring at Sasuke she waited for his response.</p>
<p>He needed her he kept saying over and over in his head event though he wanted to show her how wrong she was. Naruto was everything to him and if he was honest with himself he was never planning on staying away from Naruto forever. Sasuke  was eventually going to return to him which was far easier to do now. He couldn't understand though why she hated Naruto so much.</p>
<p>He waited a few moments before responding to Karin. "She is the last member of your clan besides yourself, Karin. Do you really want to leave her to die knowing that she is your cousin, your family, that she is your blood?" He looked up at the red headed female that now looked as though she had been punched in the gut. "Naruto doesn't know that any Uzumaki besides herself are alive just as you didn't until now. Whether or not you choose to share that information with her is up to you, but she is your cousin."</p>
<p>"H-how?" Looking down at the blonde in Sasuke's lap she tried to look for any family resemblance and found little. "She's Kushina's daughter?! But that makes no sense! Why was I never told?" Glaring at the now slightly more calmed down Uchiha she pointed her finger at him, "How long have you known?" she mentally smacked herself,<em> 'Of couse he's known since he found out my name, stupid.'</em> "Why didn't you tell me about her?" She glared at the raven haired man before her.</p>
<p>Rolling his eyes he adjusted Naruto in his arms before standing. "Jugo, make her a resting place by the fire so she stays warm" The larger man got up from where he was sitting and began the task he was asked of.</p>
<p>Looking back towards Karin he finally answered her. "At the time it wasn't important. But you wouldn't let it go. So the only way for me to make sure you wouldn't dare harm Naruto was to tell you. Besides she was a boy before, I didn't want you trying to revive the Uzukami clan with something that was mine."</p>
<p>Karin blushed at the thought of reviving her clan with the boy Naruto, their relation to each other was distant enough that it wouldn't have been frowned upon and their children wouldn't have been made fun of.</p>
<p>Shaking her head to clear it she frowned. "It still wasn't your choice to make."</p>
<p>"But it was." Sasuke growled, "Naruto is mine."</p>
<p>Karin's eyes widened at his tone and the meaning of his words. His manner told her that he meant every word. "But you just found out that she was a girl! She was a boy before! Doesn't that bother you?!"</p>
<p>From the look on his face and the way possessiveness literally poured from him she got the impression that his feelings weren't new. He didn't love the body, he didn't care if Naruto was a boy or a girl, he wanted,.. no, he loved Naruto.</p>
<p>"....Oh." silently slipped from her lips as she watched him set the blonde down on the bed that Jugo had just made for her. Watched silently as he gently tucked the blanket around her and placed the pillow under her head. Looked away as he tenderly brushed some stray hair behind her ear.</p>
<p>She knew now that she never even had a chance. Sasuke belonged fully to Naruto Uzumaki whether the blonde knew it or not.</p>
<p>But, that didn't mean she had to be nice or let her know that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>PLEASE REVIEW! </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>posting on here is slightly more difficult than on fanfiction. but i'm getting there.</strong>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Unseen Watchers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's Note:</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>I have to say that posting on here is taking a bit to get used to. on ff.net all it takes is copy and paste and edit corrections. here it's copy, paste, align it, space it, edit the damn thing, preview it to make sure it looks right, and then post it.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>I'm getting there but damn what a process lol.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>DISCLAIMER:</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <strong> I do not own Naruto or any of the other characters.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u"> Last time:</span>
  </em>
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<p>
  <em> She knew now that she never even had a chance. Sasuke belonged fully to Naruto Uzumaki whether the blonde knew it or not. But, that didn't mean she had to be nice or let her know that.</em>
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<p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u"> Chapter 6: Unseen Watchers </span>
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<p>Daylight was just a couple hours off when Sasuke decided that it was time to get moving. They needed to get to Konoha as soon as they could and that meant leaving. Jugo woke not long after he heard Sasuke moving around, packing up his and Naruto's things, carefully maneuvering around the unconscious girl.</p>
<p>Remembering how she asked him to help out wherever he could he began to rouse Suigetsu and Karin and helped them get everything together. After he had packed everything up he walked over to where Sasuke was standing above the tiny blonde girl. "I can carry her first, Sasuke." He motioned towards his back. "If we strap her to my back I will be able to move freely, we can use my belt, re-tie it so she is comfortable and safe."</p>
<p>Sasuke merely nodded as Jugo began to undo the rope around his waist and waited for him to hold her in place before re-tying it snugly so she wouldn't fall. Sasuke put one of Naruto's thighs in each of Jugo's hands so he would have a good hold on her and he gently placed her head against his back.</p>
<p>Looking at the friendly giant before him that never spoke much he looked him in the eye. "Do not let anything happen to her Jugo."</p>
<p>"I won't." Bending down he retrieved Naruto's bag and handed it out for Sasuke to take. Slowly he reached out and took it from him before slinging it over his shoulder with his own bag.</p>
<p>"Suigetsu, make sure it looks as though we were never here. Karin take the lead and scout ahead. We have a long journey ahead of us." Sasuke looked around at his companions knowing he was leading them somewhere they could possibly never return from. "Where we are going I am an extremely wanted fugitive. They will take me into custody when they spot me, they will most likely accuse me of doing this to her. She is their hero and they value her greatly so they will not be gentle when they find out what has happened to her. They are not going to give me a chance to explain what has happened to her." He looked pointedly at each of them. "Your job is not to worry about me. Your job is to make sure that she gets to Tsunade as soon as possible and make sure that she gets better. As soon as I am taken in to custody <em>She</em> is your number one priority. Not me. Her.</p>
<p>"She must live." The fire in his eyes told them how serious he was and that there would be very drastic consequences it they failed. "You have to tell Tsunade that the poison is a very old one and that it suppresses the nine-tailed fox and seals off her chakra. That it will keep her unconscious until it is removed from her system."</p>
<p>"Do you understand?" He asked looking each of them in the eye as they each nodded their understanding.</p>
<p>"Then lets move!"</p>
<p>They traveled for several hours, choosing to stick to the forests and out of the way of paths to avoid people and the possibility of being seen by rouge ninja. They stopped only once for half an hour to eat and rest for a few minutes and to give Naruto some water. Karin checked all of her wounds to make sure they stayed clear of infection, she said that even though they still showed no signs of healing they were clean.</p>
<p>Sasuke decided that he was going to carry Naruto for the remainder of the day, much to Jugo's opinion otherwise. Sasuke thought he might have to resort to physical violence just to get what he wanted before Jugo admitted that he had made Naruto a promise to help as much as possible.</p>
<p>The idea of Naruto making plans to keep him from being burdened even after she couldn't do anything about it made him smile. He was also glad that Jugo seemed to like her and was willing to go so far to keep a promise to her even though they just met. If he didn't know Jugo the way he did he might have been a bit jealous of how defensive he was.</p>
<p>After a total of almost thirteen hours of traveling with periodic breaks Sasuke called for them to make camp. Jugo and Sasuke had traded off on carrying Naruto every three hours or so, and Sasuke had been carrying her for the past hour maybe. It was already dark and had been for at least an hour. Since he wanted to be on the move again by dawn the next morning he knew they had to stop either now or really soon, so he opted for now. Daylight was a little more than six hours away, enough time for them to get something to eat and get some rest. He could hear the others as they let out sighs of relief at his suggestion to stop. They dropped down from the canopy to the forest floor. Jugo led the way through the trees to a small clearing big enough for the five of them and a fire.</p>
<p>He sent Suigetsu to set a perimeter, had Krin get things together for dinner, and had Jugo prepare a fire. By the time half an hour had passed, Naruto had been removed from his back and laid down near the fire to rest, Karin had checked her over and given her water to stay hydrated while the food cooked, and Suigestu had returned from making sure everything was clear and set. Jugo had already fallen asleep at the base of one of the nearby trees claiming that he wanted second watch and that he would eat later, which prompted Karin to claim third watch and Suigestu called first. Sasuke didn't mind getting left with last watch, it meant his sleep wouldn't have to be interrupted.</p>
<p>Dinner was divided up between the four of them with Jugo's being set aside in a covered container so bugs would stay out of it. Not too long after they ate everyone save Suigetsu went to sleep though it took Sasuke a few minutes to drift off even with as tried as he was. He had decided to lay next to Naruto to help keep her warm and the excuse that in order for anyone to get at her they would have to first go through him.</p>
<p>He kept thinking about how it irritated him that Naruto felt the need to ask Jugo to help him with her even if initially at first it made him smile. He could logically understand why she did it, hell he would have done the same thing in her position. But that doesn't mean he has to be happy about it or like that she felt the need to do so. Even though he knew that she would never doubt his ability to keep her safe or protect her, it still felt as though she did.</p>
<p>Sasuke was woken up around four hours later by Karin so he could take his watch, and she could get some more rest.</p>
<p>He made his way over to the base of a nearby tree, opposite the clearing from Jugo, and sat down facing the small camp. Or more specifically faced Naruto. He still couldn't believe that she found him, that she went through all of this just to see him. She risked her life like always for his worthless ass. Leaning his head back against the tree he stared up through the canopy of leaves at the few stars he could see. Memories of all the horrible things he had ever said to her when she had been a boy flashed through his mind, one after another. He also remembered all the confusing feelings he had at the time right before he figured out what they were, how pissed off he was at the fact he fell in love with a boy of all people. Seriously how could he revive his clan with a <em>boy?</em></p>
<p>Smirking to himself he wondered, if they had known that Naruto was a girl back then, if it would have made a difference at all. Shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head he thought that it probably wouldn't have. All his younger self was concerned with was revenge on his brother, other things were just distractions and inconvenient.</p>
<p>Listening to the sounds of the night Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He sat still as he stretched his senses out trying to get a feel for whoever or whatever was out there, but who or whatever it was wasn't nearby. He also couldn't see anyone with his sharingan which just confirmed no one was close enough to be an immediate threat.</p>
<p>Not wanting to let whoever it may be know that he was aware of their presence, he decided to stay where he was and act as though nothing was wrong. He figured he wouldn't do anything unless they decided to come closer or made any threatening moves. He would inform the others when it was time to leave and see what they had to say about it and what they wanted to do.</p>
<p>Right before the sun came up he noticed that the feeling went away, as though whoever it was knew that time was up and if they stayed any longer that they would be caught.</p>
<p>Sighing he stood and made his way back into the middle of the camp and began snuffing out the coals from the night's fire. Jugo was the first one to start stirring and sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes.</p>
<p>"Hey, did you notice anything weird last night?" Sasuke asked keeping his voice low, grinding the toe of his sandal into the last ember.</p>
<p>"Weird how?" Jugo asked as he began rolling up his sleeping bag.</p>
<p>"Like someone was in the trees watching, but other than the feeling of eyes on you, you couldn't feel or see anything else?"</p>
<p>Jugo halted in his movements of shoving his sleeping bag into his carry sack, "Yeah, I think I remember something like that, though I thought it might have just been my imagination from being so tired." Tying off his sac he stood, slinging it over his shoulder and facing Sasuke.</p>
<p>"I thought I felt something also, but like you guys I couldn't sense anything else so I thought it was all in my head as well." Came from the lump off to the side that belonged to Karin. She sat up and ran her fingers back through her hair before placing her glasses on and yawning.</p>
<p>"We'll just have to be on the look out more. Karin, wake Suigetsu, you're the only one he doesn't try to kill."</p>
<p>"Well if you guys were nicer he wouldn't try anything with you either." She mumbled before making her way over to the other lump on the ground with a pale head of hair sticking out.</p>
<p>While Karin was rousing Suigetsu, Sasuke turned towards the final sleeping member of their small group. It been barely over a day and he missed seeing her eyes, how had he ever gone months even years before now? She looked almost peaceful laying there in her sleeping bag, like nothing was wrong. But he knew better, which soured his mood instantly and ruined the image of her sleeping.</p>
<p>Squatting down he began to untuck the blanket from around her. </p>
<p>"Did you want me to carry her first?" Jugo asked from behind Sasuke.</p>
<p>"No. I'll do it."</p>
<p>"Then I'll begin packing up her blanket."</p>
<p>"Hnn." Sasuke set about with the ropes that would hold Naruto against his back safely.</p>
<p>Suigetsu came over and picked Naruto up while Sasuke turned around for him to place her on his back before tying everything. "We're going to be traveling differently today." Sasuke turned and looked at each member of his team in turn. "We know that someone has been watching us, we just don't know who or when or how they plan to announce themselves." He looked at Karin and Suigestu, "You guys will be taking up the rear to make sure we aren't being followed too closely. And Suigetsu?"</p>
<p>"What?" came the attitude from the shorter boy.</p>
<p>"No killing unless they get too close, I don't think they're friendly, but lets not risk it if they are."</p>
<p>Nodding his understanding he picked up his bag and placed it over his shoulder. "Yeah no problem."</p>
<p>"Jugo, You'll be ahead of me to make sure that there's no one ahead waiting for us." Jugo merely nodded before leaping into the canopy above still within hearing range.</p>
<p>"Alright, We will be moving even further into the forest and will be staying away from the roads entirely. Everyone understand?"</p>
<p>They each replied yes and they were off.</p>
<p>They traveled for another whole day, only stopping for food and a small rest each time. They wanted to save their remaining energy pills incase something happened between now and their arrival at the village. Jugo insisted on carrying Naruto after they stopped for mid-day even though he had carried her before they had stopped for a quick rest. His reasoning was that Sasuke was the better fighter and that he would stop any threat before it got anywhere near Naruto. </p>
<p>Jugo used his ability to send birds ahead as scouts to warn of any dangers ahead, and so far there had been nothing to take note of. He even sent some back behind him and still found nothing. And he told Sasuke this in an attempt to make him feel more at ease but saw that it hadn't worked too well.</p>
<p>Sasuke agreed to let him carry her reluctantly.</p>
<p>They switched back after they stopped again for a short rest about three or four hours after that. Karin used her abilities to restore some of their chakra they had used while moving at fast speeds through the trees and gave Naruto some more water. She redid her bandages letting Sasuke know that the bleeding seemed to have started beck up a little bit but wasn't overly bad. She said that the wounds were still clean and free from any infection. She quickly mixed together an ointment to spread on them to continue to keep them clean.</p>
<p>Karin noticed that Naruto felt slightly warmer than she had the day before which could be either good or bad, but it was too early to tell.</p>
<p>Karin and Suigestu claimed that they felt nothing and saw no one while they traveled which didn't make Sasuke feel any better. </p>
<p>Sasuke called for everyone to stop for the night and to make camp for which everyone was grateful. This hard travel was extremely tiring and was taking it's toll on them. Granted it had only been two days since they had started out but they each had less than six hours of sleep in them.</p>
<p>"This way." Jugo lead them through some trees and bushes before they all came upon a decent sized cave that was dug into a large hill.</p>
<p>They went inside and found an old fire pit with old logs stacked off to the side as well as a few rabbit skins laying on the dirty ground forgotten. The feel of the place said it hadn't been used in a long time and that nothing with four legs lived there either.</p>
<p>Like the night before Karin set about making something for dinner while Suigetsu set the perimeter, Jugo laid out the bedding for everyone before calling out he wanted second watch and crashing, and Sasuke was tending to Naruto.</p>
<p>He began to check her bandages, pleased to note that they were still white and her skin felt normal again instead of clammy and cold. He covered her back up before tucking her blanket around her and looking away towards the fire.</p>
<p>They were at least another day's worth of heavy traveling before they reached the border of the village. So far nothing had happened, which began to put Sasuke on edge the closer they got to the village without incident. Even though most people would find that relaxing.</p>
<p>Suigetsu got back from checking the perimeter just as Karin was removing the pot from the fire. "Everything out there is fine and quiet." Sasuke only nodded.</p>
<p>Just because it was quiet now didn't mean it was going to stay that way.</p>
<p>After eating the meal that Karin made he found himself curling up beside Naruto again, though this time he wrapped his arm around her middle and drew her up against him as close as he could. All of his instincts yelled at him to take her and run for the village as fast as he could go, but he knew he'd never make it there without some sort of rest. So he held her close as his eyes closed and his thoughts drifted.</p>
<p>Suigetsu and Jugo both had been done with their watches for almost an hour when Karin heard a twig snapping near by. She was sitting on a large rock a few feet from the entrance of the cave and since she didn't sense anything she ignored the sound. Then something moved out of the corner of her eye. Getting off her rock and walking closer to get a better look while reaching for her kunai, another object moved to her left. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as she realized they were under attack and smoke exploded into her face from the bomb on the ground.</p>
<p>Danger.</p>
<p>Something was happening. Sasuke looked around but all he could see was smoke coming into the cave from outside.<em> 'Forest fire?'</em> he looked around wildly not sure exactly what was going on. <em>'No, it doesn't... doesn't smell right.' </em></p>
<p>Untangling himself from Naruto he stood up, immediately getting dizzy, someone crashed into him sending him sprawling on the floor inches from the hot coals of the fire. Grunting with the effort he threw his fist forward connecting with the person's face that was covered in some sort of material, knocking them off him. Sasuke patted his thighs looking for a kunai when his fingers finally felt the cold steel and flicked it towards someone he could see making their way through the thick smoke. Whoever it was fell to the ground a couple of feet from him and didn't get up again.</p>
<p><em>'Where is everyone?...How did these...people get around the perimeter?'</em>  Suigetsu palced bells and other small sounding alert systems, always. Sasuke's thoughts were growing increasingly cloudy as the seconds ticked by.</p>
<p>Three more people came zipping into the fast shrinking space of the cave, one of them darted towards their fallen comrade before shouting orders to "get the girl".</p>
<p>Sasuke tried making his way back over to the girl laying on the floor a few feet away but his legs refused to listen and instead sent him crashing to the floor of the cave. He could only lay there as one of the people picked her up and began to carry her off out of sight. The person that Sasuke had punched made his way back over to him before looking down at him. Sasuke was having a hard time focusing as his vision kept blurring in and out.</p>
<p>"You're lucky you are who you are or you'd be dead right now." a male voice said from behind the mask.</p>
<p>Then all Sasuke knew was darkness.</p>
<p>Karin was the first to wake up from the attack. Sitting up she placed her hand against her head and groaned. Sasuke was going to kill her. No doubt about it.</p>
<p>Slowly she made her way to her feet and into the cave to find the boys all unconscious on the ground and one very obvious missing blonde. Off to the side there was dead body with a kunai sticking out of one of the major arteries in their thigh. Seems as though they decided to leave him to die rather than carry his dead weight. They must have really wanted the blonde to just leave one of their own. Not that him bleeding out would have taken long since it looked like someone also slit his throat. Most likely so he wouldn't be able to talk if one of them woke up early.</p>
<p>Quickly she made her way over to Sasuke and used her chakra enhancing abilities to jump start his and shock him into waking up.</p>
<p>Gasping for air Sasuke jerked upright and clutched his chest. He frantically looked around before getting angry, causing Karin to scoot away closer to Suigetsu who was just beginning to wake up due to the sound of Sasuke's chidori filling the air.</p>
<p>Screaming in rage Sasuke's chidori filled his hand and he sent it flying into the back wall of the cave, which woke Jugo, causing rocks to shatter and zip by. The crackling of him making another one caused Karin and Suigetsu to make their way towards the entrance while Jugo took it upon himself to try and stop him. He grabbed ahold of Sasuke's arm and looked him in the eye.</p>
<p>"Sasuke." Looking at his leader in the eye was scary, this man could kill him without thought but he was trying to stop him anyway. He could see the rage burning behind his eyes, but he also saw something else. Fear. Fear for the small blonde girl. "We will get her back."</p>
<p>"God damnit!" Sasuke's sharingan activated on its own as he punched the floor and sparks flew from his hand. "I'm going to kill them!" He growled before storming out of the cave leaving the rest of them still inside.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Author's note:</strong>
</p>
<p>Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please REVIEW!</p>
<p>please dont kill the author for the ending of this chapter lol</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Plans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's Note: </strong>
</p><p>So I just realized (7 chapters in) that my computer was autocorrecting ROGUE into ROUGE.... *facepalms into hard surface* I will be going back and correcting this mistake. So as of this moment I have red ninja running around trying to kill and capture people. Lovely. OR I just may leave it for the funnies, who knows. (JUST SAYING, I DON'T THINK I WENT BACK AND CHANGED IT EITHER LOL)</p><p>
  <strong>DISCLAIMER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>I do not own Naruto or crew. I do however own some very ROUGE-ish ninja (hardy-har-har) </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Last time: </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"God damnit!" Sasuke's sharingan activated on its own as he punched the floor and sparks flew from his hand. "I'm going to kill them!" He growled before storming out of the cave leaving the rest of them still inside. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Chapter 7: Plans </span> </strong>
</p><p>Karin could sense Naruto almost at the edge of her range which was about 6 miles out and she let the others know. They couldn't have been out long since the sun was just coming up over the horizon, so maybe thirty minutes? Jugo used his ability to talk to animals to send birds out to locate and keep track of the group that took Naruto. Not that he had doubts about what Karin said, it was just at that distance Karin's senses weren't one hundred percent accurate and he wanted to find them as soon as possible. He knew they were going to want to get away as fast as they could, and that with dead weight they were going to be slowed down.</p><p>Sasuke headed out in the direction that Karin indicated leaving the others to follow. He really wasn't in the mood to be delayed. Those ninja had done enough to Naruto, and they didn't need to have her any longer than necessary. The others caught up to Sasuke almost twenty minutes later since they had to grab all their gear, Suigetsu tossed him his bag and Sasuke caught it without thinking.</p><p>Once Sasuke had his bag in his hands he dug through it to find his chakra pills, eating one he placed the other in the pocket of his pants and slung his bag over his shoulder. Biting into the marble sized orb and swallowing he began to feel his chakra stores refilling and energy filling every inch of his body. He saw out of the corner of his eye as his team did the same.</p><p>Slowly they began to gain on them and Karin mentioned to everyone that she could feel more signatures than just Naruto's. Sasuke grew more irritated the further they go because with each step they go further out of their way towards the Land of Waves. Before to get to Konoha Sasuke had them traveling along the southern border of the Land of Fire and was going to make a straight shot north, but now they were going way too far west. Growling in frustration Sasuke pushed himself a little harder trying to get to them faster, they had already been chasing these bastards for three hours.</p><p>Just before Sasuke was about to activate his curse mark, Karin's shout out for them to stop had him pausing.</p><p>"They're gone! I just had them, like I could pinpoint them exactly, their numbers and everything, and now they're gone!" Karin yelled from the ground since they were running out of trees the further west they went and more hills that grew into valleys ahead.</p><p>"What do you mean gone?" Sasuke asked his blood running cold, if they lost them then Naruto could be gone forever.</p><p>"It's almost as though they teleported. They had to have known we were behind them and gaining on them." she said desperately trying to calm him down, he looked ready to murder someone. She was about to cry in frustration when she suddenly felt Naruto's presence again faintly, this time it was just as far as before. And it had taken them over three hours to close in on them and now they could teleport away? That wasn't fair.</p><p>"I found her." Karin said quietly which halted Sasuke's growing anger for the moment.</p><p>"Where?"</p><p>"Somehow they made it to the other side of the Land of Rivers border. I'm not completely sure how they did it but that's where they are."</p><p>Suigetsu and Jugo stood back and watched as Sasuke growled in rage and took off again, this time straight for the Land of Rivers.</p><p>Just a couple hours after noon passed they got close enough to see the small group of ninja that had Naruto in the distance. They were at the base of a mountain just standing there. Like they were waiting for something.</p><p>Determined to get to them Sasuke activated his curse mark and charged forward. Just as he came within touching distance of the guy who had Naruto the guy turned and smiled a cruel smile at him. The guy's red eyes met his and Sasuke could see amusement in their depths causing Sasuke's rage to boil hotter. Nothing here was amusing.</p><p>And then they were gone.</p><p>Landing in the dirt Sasuke rolled onto his back and just laid there. Part of him wanted to give up and go away and forget about it all. But a larger, louder part of him demanded that he had to get her back. She was his damnit. And he had promised her that he would protect her and that nothing else would happen to her. Now those bastards had her.</p><p>Jugo found Sasuke laying in the dirt not quite sure what happened but judging by the way he just stayed there it couldn't be anything good.</p><p>"Sasuke?" Karin came up beside Jugo followed closely by Suigetsu.</p><p>"What happened?" She asked no one in particular.</p><p>"I'm not entirely sure, I found him like this." Jugo responded.</p><p>"Well they aren't too far away, actually it's really weird, it almost feels like they're inside the mountain." Karin pointed at the ground rising up towards the sky. The boys looked at her questioningly.</p><p>She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know maybe they teleported in there or something. There must be a room of some sort cause they're not dead."</p><p>Sitting up Sasuke looked around at the group of people that followed him before looking up at the sky. He knew that time was something that he couldn't waste but his body was tired and again part of him wanted to stop. Using his sharingan he looked at the mountain face in front of him but he couldn't see anything suggesting a way inside. Digging through would take way more time than they had and might cause whatever room they were in to collapse.</p><p>Karin kept her distance from Sasuke for the most part hoping that he would forget that it was on her watch that Naruto was taken, and her failure to detect them was the reason they were here. She had begun to think about how Sasuke must feel knowing that she was gone and he should have been able to stop it and couldn't. How she was all alone once again like she was growing up. Karin couldn't imagine growing up the way either one of them had. To witness your parents getting slaughtered before your eyes by a beloved brother, or to never have felt the love of one's parents. She didn't know which was worse, but she could understand why they had such a strong bond. They were like yin and yang, two halves of their own coin. Hell even their colorings were like night and day, as though they were just made to be together in one way or another.</p><p>"Hey. The moles and rabbits say that there's a tunnel that goes into the mountain about half a mile this way!" Jugo shouts towards everyone from behind a group of bushes. "It's pretty well hidden too, and they say it goes down, like into the ground."</p><p>"Yeah? Did your little friends tell you how long it would take to get through?" Karin asked, dripping with sarcasm.</p><p>"I don't know, a while?"</p><p>This made Sasuke agitated since he wanted to get to her as soon as possible to make sure she wasn't in any more danger and so they could get her to Tsunade. Also he wanted this feeling of hopelessness to disappear. <em>'Is this how she felt for the past few years chasing me?'</em></p><p>~*♥*~*♥*~*♥*~*♥*~*♥*~</p><p>While the group made their way towards the entrance of the mountain following Jugo and his little friends, the ninja who had taken Naruto were already deep inside.</p><p>"Hey boss, we finally got that fox bitch!" yelled the smallest of the four remaining ninja from the attack and kidnapping. "What do you want us to do with her?" She had come in through a large pair of double doors that in all reality looked like they were way too big for her to open. Though that wasn't saying much from her diminutive size.</p><p>They walked into a large cavern that was more oval in shape than circular, though it had an almost twenty foot ceiling with sparkling crystals hanging down. Each as big as the smallest member of their group if not bigger. Which isn't saying much since the smallest was a girl at about four foot eleven with short blond hair and strange orange eyes. On the left wall where it had a slight curve there was a small waterfall that produced a calming burble of sound, the koi in the small pond at the bottom of the waterfall were quite relaxing to watch as well.</p><p>At the far back wall was a slightly raised dais which sat a huge throne like chair with a man that looked about fifty, white hair and piercing blue eyes. He merely looked at the girl who lead the small group into the room before looking past her to the blonde hanging over one of the men's shoulders.</p><p>"Just place her over there Kyo." The man waved his hand dissmissively directing the other towards a stone table off to the right where it had been covered in furs as though they were preparing it for her to sleep on.</p><p>Not saying anything the guy who had Naruto slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain made his way over to the table. "We should have Haru look at her, she's burning up, so the poison is getting close to the end of it's course. She'll die in a just a few days if she doesn't get the antidote." Kyo said as he set her down and walked away towards the koi.</p><p>"Unfortunately Haru is away gathering the ingredients for the the antidote and will be gone for a couple of days. Still plenty of time for her to pull through ok. Besides it may be easier to get her pregnant while she's unconscious." an evil smirk crossed their leader's face at the idea of making the host of the nine tailed fox pregnant.</p><p>"But then again her being sick might just kill anything I tried to bring to fruition, so waiting is inevitable." his smirk turned into a slight frown as though the thought of waiting really displeased him. "Such a pity."</p><p>"I still don't completely understand why we don't just remove the beast the easier way." The ninja that enjoyed taunting Sasuke before stated, pulling the mask over off over his head revealing a head of ebony hair and blood red eyes. "This way just seems like a waste of time, Shigure." he glared at the white haired man.</p><p>"I've told you already, her child, any of her children really, would be extremely powerful. But have a powerful father as well?" Shigure closed his eyes and hugged himself as he sat there in his chair. "The thought alone gives me chills." slowly his blue eyes opened and looked at the blond laying on the hard stone table, unaware of what was being planned for her.</p><p>"You're such a perverted leader." the girl said before dancing her way across the floor to the girl.</p><p>Pouting at her words Shigure looked at her. "You say the most hurtful things Suki." leaning back he waved a hand at her. "You should probably get her cleaned up, she looks like a mess."</p><p>"Whatever." giggling she circled the table. "Hey, Kyo, come help me." snickering from the others in the room could be heard as the man walked his way back towards the girls just because a little girl told him to. ~</p><p>*♥*~*♥*~*♥*~</p><p>Almost three hours had passed since they had gone underground to follow the directions of little animals. There was almost constant bickering from both Suigetsu and Karin as they traveled further and further down with the help of a torch they made and Sasuke's fire jutsu. They got so bad at one point that even Jugo threatened to murder someone if they couldn't be quiet. That lasted maybe ten minutes before they were back at it, even if they were a tad quieter now.</p><p>"We should be almost there." Karin said abruptly cutting Suigetsu off mid rant. "I can feel them a lot better now, like the room is on the other side of a wall or-" she trailed off as they came upon a giant set of doors blocking their path. "..something."</p><p>With a deafening roar Sasuke charged at the double doors in front of him, his chidori crackleling in the air around them, before they exploded in to a million pieces. He didn't wait for anyone before charging right into the cloud of dust and debris obscuring their view of anything beyond.</p><p>"What the hell?" came from the room beyond, echoing into the tunnels as Sasuke finally cleared through the dust. "OOh, giddy!" followed by clapping filled his ears.</p><p>Quickly surveying the room he noticed there were eleven people in the room besides Naruto, who was laying on a table, her hair dripping water on to the floor and wearing clothes that weren't hers. The idea that someone had seen her naked for any reason made his blood boil.</p><p>He started to make his way over to her when a little girl appeared at Naruto's head, stroking her wet hair while holding a knife to her throat, smiling crudely at him. "Tsk, tsk." she lightly shook her head.</p><p>Another person, this time a male appeared beside Sasuke before holding a blade to his throat as well. "I'd stop if I were you Uchiha, and have your puppies stop as well." Kyo instructed gruffly.</p><p>Sasuke halted, not because of the knife held against him but because of the one held against Naruto. If she were to be cut now with the poison in her system there would be no way to save her. She would bleed to death with no way to stop it. "Kairn, Jugo, Suigestu. Stop!" he commanded turning his head slightly in their direction, hearing them stop their movements as well.</p><p>Shigure motioned to three of the other ninja around the room to detain the other three unwanted visitors in the room when Sasuke's eyes landed on him. The three unknown ninja had their faces covered so he really couldn't tell what they looked like as they each grabbed ahold of one of his group members, leading them over to the wall on the far side of the room before attaching chakra chains to their wrists.</p><p>Karin let out a gasp of surprise at the sight of them wondering how they were able to use them.</p><p>"Surprised little Uzumaki?" Shigure asked as he looked Sasuke over, not even bothering to look in her direction. He walked around Sasuke as though he were cattle to buy at the market looking him up and down, while Kyo held him still at knife point and Suki held a knife above Naruto's throat. "I had an Uzumaki staying with us for a time and they thought it would be a good idea that someone else should know the technique before they died. Unfortunately only one person was able to learn it and not everyone. Pity."</p><p>As the chains were closed around their wrists they felt their chakra begin to fade away where they couldn't reach.</p><p>"You really are a nice specimen to look at aren't you, Uchiha?" Shigure asked as he came around to face Sasuke once more, his eyes traveling slowly over every inch of the male before him. "From what I've heard of the Uchiha clan, you would be the last of a very powerful bloodline." A smile slowly made it's way across his lips as thoughts of how to use the young man. "I have also heard that you are a wanted ninja for crimes not specifically mentioned outside your own village. Which honestly can't be all that good, so why would you risk capture to take the girl there?" he motioned to Naruto absently. Smirking broadly now at Sasuke, he laughed with pure merriment.</p><p>"You like her! Oh that's wonderful news!" Clapping his hands together like a giddy child he spun around a couple of times. "OH such glorious news! It's even better than I had imagined! And I bet she cares for you too doesn't she?" Shigure asked watching Sasuke's face carefully for any tells. The way the boy refused to answer told a lot, but it was the quick glance in the girl's direction that really gave away his thoughts.</p><p>"Don't you want to know?"</p><p>Sasuke, not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of an answer refused to say anything, which seemed to goad the guy on even more.</p><p>Placing his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and bringing his face close enough so Sasuke could feel his words whisper against his ear. What he heard caused his eyes to grow wide and his vision to bleed red in anger.</p><p>"I am going to use her as a broodmare. She will give me my own little powerful child. That i can mold into the use of however I see fit. The child will be near impossible to take down once im done with them."</p><p>He spun away from Sasuke as though dancing before coming to a halt in front of him once more.</p><p>"You see, I was just going to have someone do the deed of impregnating her whether she liked the person or not, whether she wanted to or not. And after she gave us a child to mold into something usable, take the Nine tailed fox from her weakened state." A glint that was beginning to piss Sasuke off even more appeared in Shigure's eye as he continued. "But now I know about you. Just imagine how powerful a child born of the last Uchiha, and the nine tailed fox host and heir to the Uzumaki clan would be. Not to mention she was also born while her mother was a host, and lets not forget who her father was shall we."</p><p>Realizing where this lunatic was going Sasuke's blood began to boil. They were planning on raping his Naruto. Now they were planning to use him to do it. Hurt her in unimaginable ways and torture her with the thought of them taking her child to use. She deserved better.</p><p>Before he could think better of it his curse mark activated, the force of his chakra swirling about him sent anyone to close flying through the air away from him as he appeared beside the girl poised to strike at what was his. He grabbed her by the throat just as the blade began to press into Naruto's delicate skin above her jugular. The girl's eyes widened in shock at his speed before she too was thrown across the room.</p><p>As he went to pick her up Shigure charged him and instructed the others to begin leaving. Karin and the others made their way out of the chakra chains due to Karin's figuring out how to get rid of them since she can use her own. With a flick of his wrist three kunai appeared in Sasuke's fingers before sailing through the air to imbed themselves in his opponent's thigh, gut, and shoulder. He dropped like a stone and his lackey, Kyo, was at his side supporting him.</p><p>Jugo had gotten his hand on one of the fleeing ninja and before anyone could blink twisted the mans neck causing a loud pop to sound throughout the room. Suigetsu and Karin were each locked in a fight with a couple of other ninja that were beginning to look worse for wear as the seconds ticked by.</p><p>"We need to evacuate now!" Kyo ordered to the others as Suki showed up on Shigure's other side to help him carry their leader to safety. The remaining ninja abandoned everything they were doing before following them into the tunnels. Karin, Jugo, and Suigestu opted not to follow since what they were here for was laying on the table and in need of their help. Scoffing at the two bodies of their comrades that they left behind Jugo and Suigestu went to look through the hideout for anything they could use.</p><p>Sasuke didn't care. All he wanted was the girl laying before him.</p><p>Naruto's breathing seemed to be shallow and her skin seemed to have a rosy hue to it. When he placed his hand on her arm his stomach dropped. Naruto felt as though she were on fire. Gathering her into his arms he cradled her to his chest before sinking to the floor.</p><p>How was he supposed to help her if she just continued to get worse?</p><p>"Sasuke we need to get her cooled off." He looked up at Karin, who he now noticed was sitting before him with her hands up in a peaceful manner while he held a kunai to her throat. "There's a waterfall in the corner with a pool of cool water we can use." she tilted her chin in the direction where the sound of burbling water was coming from.</p><p>Lowering his knife he slowly gathered himself and Naruto before standing and following her to the water. He slowly walked into the shallow pool of water, scaring the koi into scattering into small caves in the walls. The water only came up to about mid-thigh before he got down onto his knees and lowered her into the cool water.</p><p>"Keep her in there for about twenty minutes." Karin instructed, "I will go look to see if they have anything useful."</p><p>Sasuke stayed there holding Naruto in the water with her face above the surface, he watched as her skin became covered in goosebumps from the colder temperature and slowly the color started to fade from her skin. By the time Karin came back about fifteen minutes later Naruto's skin had regained it's normal coloring, if not slightly paler. Her temperature had dropped considerably but Karin wanted to get her to swallow a mixture she had found to bring down fevers and keep them down for a while. She said she had found a few bottles of the stuff as though they had been stocking up on it.</p><p>The idea that they knew they were going to need it for Naruto meant they were going to make her sick again. The thought made Sasuke determined that they wouldn't get anywhere near her again.</p><p>"Thank you Karin."</p><p>"Has she cooled any?" She asked as squatted down by the edge of the water and began taking things out of her many pockets, setting the objects, bottles, and pouches on the ground next to her. Seeing him nod in answer to her question she took her pack off her back and began to rearrange the items into it. "Then you need to get her out of there so she doesn't get too cold, she'll need to be wrapped in one of the blankets while she's carried, and hopefully there's clothes around that fit her."</p><p>Looking around Sasuke didn't see Naruto's clothes which he knew would cause the blonde to be upset later, provided there was a later at this rate. He carried Naruto out of the water and made his way back to the table in the middle of the room before setting her back down on it. Karin followed behind him, her back clinking softly with stolen loot.</p><p>"Karin, do you mind looking for something for her that's dry?"</p><p>"No need." came from behind them as Suigetsu stood holding out a rumpled set of Naruto's clothes that looked worse for wear, and another set of dry clothes in his other hand. "I found these on the floor of a bathroom, and these were on a shelf."</p><p>"Thanks." Taking the clothes from him, Karin shooed the boys out of the room so she could get Naruto into the dry clothes, Sasuke took Naruto's other clothes and placed them in her bag while taking out her blanket for when they were ready to travel.</p><p>Jugo came up beside Sasuke holding his large hand out. Reaching out to take whatever it was that he was offering Jugo dropped a bag of what looked to be smaller versions of chakra pills into his hand.</p><p>"What are these?"</p><p>"Going by what the journal next to them said, I'm guessing speed and chakra boosters." Shrugging his shoulders Jugo just looked at Sasuke.</p><p>He smiled at the big guy, these would come in very handy in the next day and a half it was going to take them to get to the village. Maybe even make it so they could cut off a few hours of travel.</p><p>"Thank you, you get to carry her first."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Author's note again....</p><p>well there was a lot more editing done to this chapter, making me wonder what would have possessed me to be such a dumbass.  But, it's done and ready to read now, I hope you enojyed it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Back Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's note:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sorry for the delay but here is the next chapter!</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> DISCLAIMER:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.</strong>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Last time: </em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>"Going by what the journal next to them said, I'm guessing speed and chakra boosters." Shrugging his shoulders Jugo just looked at Sasuke.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> He smiled at the big guy, these would come in very handy in the next day and a half it was going to take them to get to the village. Maybe even make it so they could cut off a few hours of travel. "</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Thank you, you get to carry her first."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter 8:</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Back Again</span>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>When they had left the hideout of the rogue ninja, the sun had already set a few hours before, so they didn't waste any time in heading out. The rest of the night and into the next, passed in a blur of passing trees with a few short breaks in between, long enough to eat an drink. They would dig out another chakra pill when they began to feel the effects wearing off, even though they knew they would pay for it later. The affects of using too many of them paled in comparison to Naruto dying in Sasuke's eyes.</p><p>Karin felt similarly, if only because Naruto was her only living relative she knew of. She couldn't imagine growing up the way Naruto had, being singled out and left the way she had. Karin was even more grateful for the memories of her family that she had. Hell, she didn't feel any more jealousy towards the feelings Naruto and Sasuke had for each other. Not after everything she had learned and heard of her cousin. She deserved to have something that made her happy.</p><p>Jugo and Suigestu just pretty much followed Sasuke's lead.</p><p>They decided to stop avoiding main roads and villages and took the most direct route to the village they could, keeping their eyes open for any form of attack or people with hostile intentions. They were running out of time fast and they needed to get there as soon as they could.</p><p>When the sun had set again Jugo gave Naruto to Sasuke to carry as they were only a few hours away from the village and Sasuke didn't want to risk any of the others being harmed if one of the Leaf ninja tried to remove Naruto from them by force. They hadn't gone much further after they changed places before Sasuke came across the first of Konoha's alert systems, barely avoiding a paper bomb and a net rigged to capture anything that tripped it.</p><p>'Damn, my reflexes are slowing. Not too much....Shit!'</p><p>A black shape flew out of the trees beside him tackling him in the side sending him towards the ground. </p><p>Twisting his body so that Naruto wouldn't get injured, Sasuke managed to land on his feet in a crouched position. He couldn't defend himself very well while holding onto Naruto and he wouldn't risk turning his back to whoever attacked him as long as she was on there, so he lifted his eyes to see the person better, ready to leap away if need.</p><p>Shock couldn't begin to describe his thoughts as he gazed upon the ninja standing in front of him, kunai in hand at the ready, as they slowly stood up to their full height. Two other ninja joined him on both sides along with three others, Anbu, he didn't recognize, but he kept his eyes on the ninja in front as the bigger one to the left spoke.</p><p>"What are you doing here?!" Choji yelled thrusting his finger in Sasuke's direction, followed by a grunt when Shino elbowed him in the side.</p><p>Sasuke didn't say anything as he continued to watch as the first ninja's gaze landed on Naruto's blonde hair over his shoulder causing his eyes to widen.</p><p>"What's wrong with her?" Shikamaru asked as his eyes narrowed with suspicion still holding the kunai in front of himself.</p><p>Choji and Shino looked at Shikamaru before glancing back and noticing her also. "Hey! That's Naruto!" Choji exclaimed excitedly before Shino whacked him and sighed. "Hey!" Choji massaged his head where there was going to be no doubt of a bump later. If the situation wasn't so critical, he might have found the sight to be slightly amusing.</p><p>Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo landed behind Sasuke at that moment, right before Sasuke could say anything causing every one of the Leaf Anbu ninja to tense for an attack.</p><p>Seeing the reactions of the Anbu Sasuke tensed even more, preparing to either attack or charge towards the village, before movement from Shikamaru caught his eye.</p><p>"Stand down! He has Naruto on his back!" Shikamaru put himself between Sasuke and the Leaf Anbu hoping to stop anything before it started. "She has to be in pretty bad shape if she's allowed someone to carry her. Now lets hear what happened."</p><p>Jugo came up behind Sasuke and was beginning to remove her from his back incase something went wrong, they didn't want her getting caught up in anything. Sasuke felt as the ties became looser and the small movements of Naruto's weight shifting. Shikamaru watched from a short distance away, while he put his kunai back in it's pouch.</p><p>As soon as the last tie was undone and she was safely out of the way the Leaf Anbu surrounded Sasuke as more came out of the trees to surround the whole group.</p><p>"Wait!" Shikamaru yelled as one of the Anbu behind Sasuke held a kunai to his throat.</p><p><em>'This is getting old.'</em> Sasuke thought as the coldness of the steel touched his skin, fighting the sudden fatigue hitting his system. <em>'Wonder how long before my legs give out on me?' </em></p><p>"Sasuke Uchiha, you are to be taken into custody." A muffled voice came from behind him as a ninja at each side of him put a chakra blocking cuff on each of his wrists. Knowing that this was going to happen didn't make it any easier for him to allow them to put them on him. The sudden feeling of his chakra being cut off was a shock.</p><p>He felt defenseless even though he knew better.</p><p>All of his remaining energy disappeared with his chakra causing him to crash to his knees causing the Anbu behind him to grunt with effort as he was pulled forward with the movement. Sasuke just lay there as the Anbu struggled to get up. After said ninja was standing he hauled Sasuke into sitting position and propped him against his shin.</p><p>Straightening himself out the Anbu behind Sasuke pointed at Jugo, who was now the one holding Naruto. "Give us the girl and no one will bet hurt."</p><p>Jugo merely nodded and held her out for one of them to take.</p><p>"Shikamaru." came from Sasuke's slumped form causing said ninja to look over at him, nodding in understanding about what he wanted. He'd find a way to kill anyone who touched her, and growled as one of the masked Anbu standing on the sides went to get her. Sasuke didn't want any of the other ninja to touch her while she was so vulnerable.</p><p>Taking her from the big guy Shikamaru frowned at how warm she was, and how light.</p><p>Before he could ask again what was wrong Karin spoke up. "She was poisoned and needs to get to Tsunade as soon as possible. She's the only one who can help her."</p><p>The Anbu along with Sasuke disappeared into thin air as Shikamaru told Chohi and Shino to take the rest of Sasuke's group to the village and for the female ninja to tell them everything she knew. Which was not a whole hell of a lot since she wasn't the one who spoke to Kurama. But she gave enough information to detail the direness of the situation.</p><p>Using a teleportation jutsu, Shikamaru appeared in the Hokage's headquarters with Naruto in his arms, he made his way to Tsunade's office. People rushed to get out of his way as he raced through the halls before coming upon the Hokage's office.</p><p>"Lady Tsunade! It's an emergency!" The doors to her office swung open as he kicked them, causing the older woman to look up with murder in her eyes, until she saw what he held. All the color drained from her face as she quickly made her way to her feet and clearing things from her desk with a sweep of her arm so he could set her down. "She's burning up, they said she'd been poisoned and that you're the only one who can do anything."</p><p>As he set Naruto down Tsunade ripped open her shirt and took in the sight of her bandaged abdomen and the amount of blood soaking them. Making haste, she cut them from the small form on her desk to find the wounds bleeding freely before placing her hand above one of the more severe looking ones and closing her eyes to concentrate. <em>'She</em> <em>shouldn't be bleeding like this, the Fox should be fixing any damage like always.' </em>She focused her chakra on healing the wound under her hand for a few moments but felt nothing happening.</p><p>
  <em>'Why isn't it working?'</em>
</p><p>Her eyes snapped open in confusion she looked at the wounds again. Just as she was about to begin again, Choji and Shino came in, followed by three other ninja she didn't recognize.</p><p>"What's going on here? Can't this wait? I'm..."</p><p>Choji cut her off, "It's important Lady Hokage!" motioning for the female ninja to come forward towards the Hokage.</p><p>"Naruto was poisoned by an ancient group of ninja," looking the blonde woman in the eye, Karin told her what she knew. That Naruto had been unconscious for over three days and that her wounds wouldn't heal until the poison was out of her system. That the fox had told Sasuke that Tsunade was the only one who could possibly help Naruto, and that if she didn't hurry that she would die.</p><p>"The poison blocks off all her access to her chakra along with the fox's and any connection she has to the fox. While doing that it also ate away at any energy she had before it rendered her unconscious." Karin finished as Tsunade looked down at the girl on her desk, deep in thought. Karin had noticed the way the older woman's face had paled while she was talking which casued a stone to form in her stomach.</p><p>Looking up at the red haired girl before her, Tsunade spoke. "Who are the people that did this?" Placing her hand on Naruto's forehead she set herself to the task of lowering her temperature.</p><p>"We aren't sure Ma'am, all we know is what Kurama told us, which is that the organization is old enough that he forgot their name, though he remembers what their goal is. They want the tailed beasts for themselves, though now it seems they also want to use Naruto as a brood mare for her future children and any powers they may have."</p><p>At the mention of Kurama, Tsunade's eyes widened before narrowing quickly at the girl, "How did you speak to the fox?"</p><p>"It was Sasuke who spoke to the fox creature." came a deeper voice from the doorway. Looking over Karin's shoulder towards the door Tsunade saw two more unfamiliar ninja standing out of the way.</p><p>"Ah." Looking back down at Naruto she continued her examination. "Shino, go and retrieve Sakura. I am going to need her help for this. Bring her to the Hospital." She gently picked up the unconscious girl from her desk and made her way out of her office. Stopping at the doorway and looking back at Choji and Shino, "Take these three and book them some rooms at the closest Inn, if they came all this way they must be tired. Stay with them though, incase I need anything."</p><p>Tsunade knew what poison the red haired ninja spoke of, her family had written a hidden scroll about it many generations ago since there had always been a tailed beast in the village. When the poison first appeared they had lost many hosts since they didn't know what they were up against nor the causes. So after they perfected their treatment they wrote it down for future generations incase someone decided to use it again later. Tsunade had come across it years ago while reading random medical scrolls in the library in the forbidden section. The one that had many triggers and alarms just to get near the room. The reason the scroll was placed there wasn't because of the fact it had details about the cure for the poison, no, it was there because they had also figured out how to make it as well. which made sense in a way since how could you cure something without not knowing how to make it?</p><p>Tsunade also knew that it would take at lest two people working on the infected person and quite a bit of time in order to cleanse them of the poison. Time wasn't something they had a lot of if Naruto had been unconscious as long as the girl had claimed. They would need to work fast and really hard, probably without stopping if they were going to save Naruto. Tsunade figured they had less than twenty-four hours before Naruto was as good as dead and there was nothing they would be able to do to help her.</p><p>She stopped by the library on her way after handing Naruto to Shikimaru again and instructed him to take her to the emergency medical room and told him not to allow anyone into the room besides herself and Sakura.</p><p>She needed to get the scroll if she was going to do this right, and they couldn't afford to have any mistakes.</p><p>Shino arrived at Sakura's door a few moments later and began to knock when Sakura came around the corner of the building carrying what looked to be groceries.</p><p>Seeing Shino standing at her door caused her brow to furrow in confusion, but she smiled anyway. "Hey Shino, what's going on? Do you need me for something?" her keys jingled in her fingers as they felt their way to her house key.</p><p>"Lady Tsunade needs your assistance with an emergency at the hospital." He said simply before turning and walking away, having accomplished his task, deciding it was time to go home and go to bed.</p><p>Finding her key she stared after Shino as he went on his way. "Uh, ok then." Since she hadn't bought anything that needed to be put up right away she opened her door and set her bags down inside the doorway before locking the door again.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Author's note!</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>i really hope you enjoyed this chapter.</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's Note:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> Disclaimer:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> I DO NOT OWN NARUTO</strong>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Last time:</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>Finding her key she stared after Shino as he went on his way. "Uh, ok then."  Since she hadn't bought anything that needed to be put up right away she opened her door and set her bags down inside the doorway before locking the door again.</em>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong> Chapter 9: Water</strong>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>Sasuke had quite literally been thrown into a holding cell days ago. If he had to guess, he'd say it was about a week ago that it happened.</p><p>The Anbu ninja who had escorted him to the cell took great pleasure informing Sasuke of how escape-proof the cells were in the area they were putting him in. Apparently before the Uchiha extermination, the Anbu had designed special cells just for holding either Uchihas or Hyugas. The cells were lined in the same alloy that the chakra blocking cuffs were made out of, along with shackles on the walls for "if a prisoner gets out of hand". The only way to get around not being able to use chakra in these cells was either being one of the hosts to a tailed beast, Hokage, or a healer who has special training to work around the properties of the alloy.</p><p>One of the Anbu when he found out that Sasuke was being held in one of the cells decided to pay him a visit the first night he was there. He wanted to let Sasuke know just how glad he was that he was back, the fact that he brought Naruto with him didn't matter.</p><p>A healer arrived the next morning at Tsunade's orders to make sure Sasuke was alright, only to find him lying in a pool of his own blood unconscious, and bruises on his face and ribs. It took her a few hours of work to get him back to some semblance of order before she left to give Tsunade her report. He had no visitors since, so he assumed Tsunade made it known he wasn't to be harmed.</p><p>Turns out the Anbu stabbed him three times with a kunai in the side, narrowly missing any vital organs, and fractured two of his ribs on his left side, opposite the stab wounds. Sasuke had passed out due to blood loss and exhaustion.</p><p>As the days passed the more agitated Sasuke became with the lack of news regarding Naruto, he began to think the worst. Naruto would have been hunting him down or demanding to see him within the first few hours of awaking up, the fact she hadn't was driving him nuts. It meant there was something wrong.</p><p>He was sitting on the floor of his cell, leaning against the wall when he heard it. The sound of footsteps stopping outside his cell put him on edge as he listened to a key being placed in the lock. The door swung open to reveal Tsunade standing there looking guarded, and he sat up straighter.</p><p>She walked over to him and stopped at his feet looking helpless and lost. "Naruto needs your help." she barely whispered.</p><p>Fear filled him as he looked at Tsunade, something was really wrong. Quickly Sasuke got to his feet and held his shackled wrists out to her. "What's going on?"</p><p>Taking the cuffs between her own hands Tsunade made a few hand gestures that were too fast for him to read without his sharingan, "Physically she's fine, we purged the poison from her system and put her on an IV. But that was days ago and she still hasn't woken up." the cuffs made a sharp snapping sound before clattering to the floor at their feet, Sasuke rubbed his wrists to get the feeling of them back to normal. "Kakashi tried to go into her mind yesterday to see what was going on but he hit an extremely powerful barrier and couldn't get in."</p><p>Looking at the older woman before him Sasuke grew annoyed. "Why wouldn't you come to me first? Kakashi doesn't have even half the power Naruto does, she could have killed him without even knowing it. Hell, Kurama could have killed him and how do you think she would have felt then?" He watched as his words caused her to flinch back.</p><p>Too angry to wait for an answer he ran out of the cell and back the way they brought him days ago with Tsunade close behind. The few Ninja who tired to stop him quickly backed off once they saw he wasn't restrained and that the Hokage was behind him.</p><p>He made it to the Hospital in less than five minutes, before running through the doors and asking someone where Naruto was. The healer he had cornered just stood there fidgeting and looked as though she was going to pass out. Sasuke caught sight of Sakura coming out of a room nearby and made his way over to her.</p><p>When she saw him her face lost all of its color not making his thoughts any better. "S-sasuke."</p><p>"Where is she?" he demanded roughly as she took a step back.</p><p>"S-she's right in here, b-behind m-me." She was shocked to see him and had never seen the dark haired man so upset before. She was upset too that this had happened to Naruto, but apparently not as much as he was. He reached for the door knob when she grabbed his wrist. "You can't just go in t-there you know." she stated sternly when he turned his glare on her.</p><p>"It's alright Sakura, he can go in."</p><p>"B-but Lady Tsunade, she's.."</p><p>"It's fine Sakura, I believe he's the only one who can help her now. If we want her to wake up we need to let him in there." Sasuke took his chance and dashed into the room before they changed their minds and when Sakura went to follow him Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder shaking her head. "No, she'll be fine."</p><p>Sasuke's eyes zeroed in on Naruto as soon as he stepped through the door, she lay there on the bed, white hospital blanket tucked in up to her armpits with her arms laying at her sides. A single IV ran from the clear bag into her right hand, without it she would look just like she were sleeping. Her color was back to normal and she no longer had a sheen of sweat covering her. Looking around he found a chair against the wall that he grabbed and placed under the door knob so people would get the hint to stay out even if the Hokage wasn't on the other side.</p><p>Slowly he made his way over to one of the chairs on the left side the bed and sat down. Carefully he picked up her hand and held it between his own against his lips. Closing his eyes he concentrated on the girl in front of him, he needed her to wake up. He needed to hear her voice and see her brilliant blue eyes again.</p><p>When he felt as though he were no longer in the hospital room he opened his eyes to see a massively huge red dome of chakra in what seemed to be a barren desert. There was no stifling heat to go with the sight and the only sound was sand moving with the non existent wind.</p><p>The edge of the dome was only a few feet in front of him so he didn't have to go very far in order to touch it. Placing both of his hands on the surface he felt the warmth that was missing from the desert and almost flinched, but held his hands in place. Summoning up all the chakra he could he knocked it against the surface beneath his hands.</p><p>Almost immediately the chakra of the dome lashed out against him, swallowing him whole, drowning him in a blazing inferno of red heat.</p><p><em>'KURAMA!'</em> Sasuke thought, hoping the fox would hear him before he was forced to protect himself, he didn't want to hurt either one of them. Whether by accident or not.</p><p>The chakra spun him about and whipped him around as he continued to try and get the fox's attention. After a couple of minutes he knew he needed to do something or he was going to be worse for wear. Especially since he had no reserves after being in that cell for days on end.</p><p>As soon as he gathered enough chakra to himself for an attempt to save himself the inferno disappeared into nothingness and something snatched him out of the air, pinning him to the ground under a large reddish orange foot that had very sharp claws.</p><p>Teeth snapped inches from his face and a low menacing growl rumbled around him.</p><p>"It's about time you showed up." Sasuke gasped as Kurama lifted his paw into the air and peered under it at him. "Why the hell hasn't Naruto woken up yet? Tsunade says she got all the poison out of her system."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"She's been asleep for days now and they haven't been able to get her to wake up." Sitting up he looked around Kurama to see the figure of said girl laying in the grass of what seemed to be a desert oasis. Figures she'd lock herself away in something beautiful, where no one would be able to get to her. "They had Kakashi try to get through to you guys to figure out what was going on, but that was apparently a bust."</p><p>"Pfft, like he would be able to breach the girl's defenses or mine. He'd die in the attempt, he's getting on in years."</p><p>"That's pretty much what I told them." Standing up he dusted the sand off his ass before making his way over to Naruto.</p><p>Kurama shrunk in size and followed close to his side and sat beside her. "Seems like the poison had some unforeseen side affects, either that or to protect herself she did this. I didn't make the barrier that you knocked on, ruining my nap. But if it has been as long as you claim, then I am glad you did. You humans tend to need food and water."</p><p>"Maybe, locking herself away doesn't really seem her style though, she's more of a charge them head on type of person. But she may not have had any other choice." Sasuke sat down next to her in the grass and brushed some stray hair out of her face. "I really need her to wake up though."</p><p>"By all means do so then, she was most likely asleep for so long because I was and her body may have been trying to recover on it's own since my chakra wouldn't have been able to leak through that dome." Yawning Kurama lay down and placed his head on his paws.</p><p>"That makes sense I guess."</p><p>Sasuke's impatience won out and he shook the girl to wake her. Kurama seemed to be laughing to himself if the rasping noise coming from his direction was any indication.</p><p>Naruto's eyes snapped open as she came up swinging at the moron shaking her. "What the fucking hell is wro-" Her words were cut off as she caught sight of a smirking Sasuke leaning away from her.</p><p>Suddenly the desert faded away and the hospital room came back into view, her body flooded with the feel of her own chakra and Kurama's. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized she wasn't in danger of dying anymore and that she could now reach Kurama. Sasuke's eyes went wide when he saw her about to cry thinking the worst, Naruto never cried, for anything.</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, how I missed you!" </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"And I you, though I must say next time you should decide to get poisoned, can it be the non-lethal kind?" </em>
</p><p><em>"Most definitely."</em> she thought as her eyes settled on Sasuke once more. He looked tired, as though he hadn't slept well in days, but he also looked worried. But then again who could blame him, he had brought her all the way back to Konoha where he was hated, after traveling for days.</p><p>
  <em>"I'll let you be for now, there will be plenty of time later for catching up." </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ok, I love you Kurama."</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "You too little one."</em>
</p><p>"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Sasuke said as she continued to stare at him.</p><p>"Thank you for saving me. I know you must not have gotten the warmest of welcomes when we got here." her voice came out as barely more than a hoarse whisper, her tongue and throat felt as dry as sand, and she would kill for a glass of water.</p><p>"It went about as well as expected, tossed in a cell, having my chakra cut off, the usual for criminals."</p><p>Hearing him be so calm about it caused her to flinch, the movement causing her to notice that her hand was being held by something warm. Looking down she saw her hand inside his, where he tightened his grip hoping she wouldn't pull away. Instead she squeezed back and simply smiled at him.</p><p>"I hope you didn't get comfortable in that cell, cause you aren't going anywhere." she demanded with a mock glare in his direction. He was staying where she could see him, afraid he was going to up and leave her again.</p><p>"Ha! I'd like to see them try to remove me from your side, YOU aren't leaving my sight. I have come to realize how much I missed you and I would rather not do it again. You scared me half to death Naruto, I thought I was going to lose you there." He watched the fear in her eyes slowly melt away only to be replaced with guilt which only made him feel bad.</p><p>"I'm sorry." She looked down into her lap only to look up again when she felt the bed dip beside her, Sasuke sitting right there.</p><p>"When I get my hands on the guys who did this they're going to pay with their lives." His eyes hardened at the thought of seeing them again. They were going to pay very slowly for what they did and planned on doing to her. Their plans he would keep to himself for now, she had enough to worry about. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad saying what I did. I just worry about you."</p><p>Looking away from him Naruto looked out the window, into the sky, the sun was beginning to set, casting everything in a reddish pink hue. "I know that you must have been treated worse than you're telling me, and it's all my fault, if I hadn't gone looking for you then you-" her whispers were silenced as he gently pulled her into his arms.</p><p>"Naruto, the only people who should be blamed for anything are those damn ninja that attacked you. From what I had gathered they were going to come after you regardless of what you were doing. They were only looking for a time when you were alone." With his face buried in her blonde hair he held her tight, not wanting to let go, thinking of the horrors that could have happened to her had his people not been nearby. "Can you imagine what could have happened had you not been looking for me? Had Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu not been there?"</p><p>Her mind drew a blank at his words, the idea of them having gotten to her with no one to help never entered her mind. "Oh..." escaped her lips breathlessly. Oh boy she really wanted some nice cold water now, she tried wetting her lips only to scrunch her face up and wiggle her nose.</p><p>Pushing out of his hold gently she looked up at him. "Hey, Sasuke?"</p><p>"Hmn?"</p><p>"Can you get me a glass of water?"</p><p>Smiling at his dobe he only nodded his head before getting up and walking over to the sink.</p><p>
  <strong>Author's SECOND note:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>SURPRISE!<br/>TWO IN ONE DAY!</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Food</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Author's note:</strong>
</p><p>Here's the next chapter everyone! I hope you enjoy it.</p><p>I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. They are greatly loved!</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>DISCLAIMER:</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <strong> I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND CO. </strong>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Last time: </em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>Pushing out of his hold gently she looked up at him. "Hey, Sasuke?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Hmn?" </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Can you get me a glass of water?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Smiling at his dobe he only nodded his head before getting up and walking over to the sink. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter 10: Food</span>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>After being in the hospital for a few days due to Tsunade's worry over Naruto's health, the blonde decided that it was time to leave and got Sasuke to help her escape while the nurses were on their lunch. Sasuke wasn't taken back to his cell since Tsunade had deemed he wasn't really going to do anything unless someone was stupid enough to harm the blonde, and it probably would have been more of a headache than was necessary separating the two of them. Sai had decided to show up everyday she was there which caused both Sasuke and him to engage in glaring matches. Naruto left them to it, too tired to care really. Recovering from the poison was taking longer than she expected but Kurama told her that it was because her body's accelerated healing couldn't do anything for the wounds that were created from weapons with the poison. They would just have to heal like everyone else's body would. He didn't know why, just that it was so.</p><p>Sai would always make a nasty comment after a while towards Sasuke that would cause Naruto to tell him to leave before Sasuke decided to kill him. It would take a few minutes for Sasuke to lose the look in his eyes that promised bodily harm. But he always seemed smug when she would finally tell Sai to go, the bastard. Then sometimes she'd catch him staring at her and her cheeks would become hot forcing her to look away.</p><p>Karen, Suigetsu, and Jugo all came to visit as well, the big guy blushed like crazy when Naruto thanked him for his help, Suigetsu whom Naruto decided to refer to as just Getsu, simply shrugged his shoulders. Karin, well she just sat in the corner looking like she wanted something really bad but was too afraid to ask for it, so Naruto let her be for now. They would talk to Sasuke and hang out for a little while before the nurse would come in and chase them out, except for Sasuke who just glared until she left.</p><p>The three other members of Sasuke's group were staying in the village and were managing to get along pretty well with the rest of the rookie nine, among others. Tsunade even offered them small jobs here and there to keep them busy, always under the watchful eyes of the Anbu of course. She couldn't have unknown ninjas running around unsupervised. That would be foolhardy, hell the council was already having cats and dogs about Sasuke being back and not locked up. That took her days to get them to understand even a little bit that Sasuke wasn't going to do anything to the village or the people that lived there as long as nobody harmed him or his. Namely the village's beloved knuckleheaded blonde ninja.</p><p>Sasuke brought Naruto a change of clothes and stood outside the bathroom door while she changed, asking periodically if she needed help, to which she just growled.</p><p>Getting out of the window without being noticed was easier than they thought it would be, considering you know, it was Naruto and Sasuke. They thought for sure there would at least be some Anbu posted below her window just incase of Sasuke trying to leave. But no, there was no one. Then they thought maybe, just maybe a nurse would scream at them from the window or something to get back inside... but that didn't happen either.</p><p>Sasuke took them to the Uchiha compound, sure that they wouldn't be bothered there for a while, until they found someone stupid enough to go into the Uchiha's back yard. Naruto tried to keep up the best she could but about half way there Sasuke just threw her onto his back and carried her the rest of the way while she laid her head on his shoulder. Being injured sucked, but if she got to be close to Sasuke, it wasn't too bad she guessed.</p><p>It didn't take long to find his way to his home and for the memories that were pushed to the back of his mind to resurface. Playing with his brother and being taught simple ninja skills, his mother's cooking and her laugh. His father's voice and smile when things were done right. Most of all the soft whisper of feeling fingers on his forehead.</p><p>One of his hands reached up to touch the spot absently while he walked into the house carrying Naruto, who remained silent as he made his way through the empty building. Sasuke was surprised to find that things were in better condition than he expected, furniture had dust coverings on them, windows were closed along with doors. There was a thick layer of dust over everything but nothing looked touched or destroyed.</p><p>"I covered everything up about a year after you left."</p><p>Turning his head to the blonde on his back he looked at her. "Why?"</p><p>"Because I wanted your home to be as you remembered it when you came back." she whispered before yawning in his ear.</p><p>Fighting off a yawn of his own now he responded "Don't you mean 'if'?"</p><p>"No, I knew you would come back," Yawning again she snuggled her head into his neck as he began to head towards his old room. "It was just a matter of when. I knew you needed to find yourself first." she mumbled, his hand on the door to his room now, a warm feeling filling his chest at her words.</p><p>"Thank you." She only hummed in response too tired to give actual words. <em>"How do normal people find the energy to do anything while injured?" </em></p><p>
  <strong>"Most people, if they had bled for days on end with wounds that wouldn't heal and a raging fever would have died."</strong>
</p><p><em> "Kay..."</em> Naruto smiled softly in her sleep as Sasuke removed the cover from his bed and laid her on it, promising himself he was going to change the sheets and blankets later.</p><p>He left the room as quietly as he could and decided that the house was in major need of dusting and cleaning after being neglected for over six years. As he cleaned he was surprised to find everything as he had left it so long ago. Except the fridge and cupboards were now empty, probably having been cleaned out when Naruto covered everything.</p><p>He got the cleaning done after a couple of hours, leaving his parents room alone for now, not wanting to go in there. He didn't want to face their memories today anymore than he had to. Once he finished wringing out the mop one last time he decided that he should probably go to the store, they were going to need to eat after all.</p><p>So after putting the mop back in the closet he went to check on the blonde to see that she was still out wrapped in his old blanket and snuggled into his old pillow. Seeing her curled up with his things, no matter how long ago he had seen or used them caused the warmth to come rushing back into his chest. He smiled.</p><p>Looking towards the night table by the bed he opened the drawer to find a piece of paper and a pencil and he quickly scratched out a note telling her that he went out food shopping and would be back soon. Leaving it on the table he went to get his shoes and left, making sure the door was closed behind him.</p><p>He didn't notice the four man Anbu team hidden within the Uchiha compound that were watching as he left to go into town. The Hogake had tasked them with keeping an eye on Sasuke and Naruto since, without a doubt she would be with the Uchiha. They were to make sure that with the new threat to the blonde that nothing happened to her and that if Sasuke were to leave for any reason while leaving Naruto behind they were to spilt up so that two of them were watching each at any given time. The Hokage didn't want anything to happen to either of them, she knew that if Sasuke were to be attacked it could become a huge problem, but if someone hurt the blonde while Sasuke was around, someone was going to die. And that was something Tsunade didn't need right now. She was having enough problems with people finding out that Sasuke was back and coming up with an answer as to why he wasn't locked up.</p><p>Sasuke made it to the market in only a few minutes when he ran into Sakura. She was carrying a couple of small bags with groceries in them in one hand while the other was out to her side to help keep her balance. She smiled at first when she caught sight of him while he inwardly groaned and winced not really wanting to deal with her right now.</p><p>"Oh, hey Sasuke. What are you doing here?" she asked looking confused.</p><p>Looking around at the various stalls he realized he had no idea what Naruto liked besides ramen and he would be damned if that was all he was going to buy for her to eat, he was going to make sure she ate something healthy. Or at least not ramen. "I need to buy food, but I don't know what to get, let alone if they'll sell anything to me. Tsunade told me to start a tab in Naruto's name and that she would make sure that it got paid for." he placed his hands in his pockets and stood there looking off to the side. Maybe he could get her to help him, since she's had the whole time he was gone to get to know what the blonde liked to eat and what not.</p><p>Sakura's eyes seemed to lose some of the happiness at seeing him at the sound of Naruto's name.</p><p>
  <em> 'Naruto so owes me for this. Coming back to Konoha is one thing, but interacting with everyone... this soon? Not sure I want to do that. Where's Jugo or Suigestu when I want them?' </em>
</p><p>"Yeah that sounds like something she would do, she set up an account for Naruto a few years ago at Naruto's request, and puts half of her earnings from missions in it. I take it you have Naruto?" Sasuke only 'Hnned' in response. She switched her groceries from one hand to the other. "The nurses were looking all over the hospital for her this afternoon. Would you like some help?" She gestured to the various vendors and stalls, "Naruto loves ramen still, but she has learned to eat and even like other things also." She laughed at her own half hearted joke.</p><p>"Help would be great thanks." Sasuke motioned for her to lead the way.</p><p>He was right to be wary of them selling to him with the looks they were giving him even though it was Sakura placing the items on the counter and telling them to charge it to Naruto's account via the Hokage. Most of the vendors didn't even seem to want to let him into their stalls and shops. Half way through the market something caught Sasuke's eye. They just past a shop full of random items in the windows and on the shelves when a small figure of a fox stuck out at him.</p><p>"Hey Sakura, hold on a minute." walking closer to the shop he noticed that the fox figurine had nine tails like Kurama. Though unlike Kurama the figurine didn't look angry, it actually looked clam and peaceful. Smirking at the idea of that giant ball of anger being calm in any way, he thought maybe Naruto would like it. No way was he going to ask Sakura to buy it for him to give to Naruto, he wasn't a moron, asking a girl who liked you to buy a gift for another girl was asking to get killed. Maybe he'd ask Jugo about it later, people liked him.</p><p>"What did you find Sasuke?" she asked coming up behind him and peering over his shoulder.</p><p>"Nothing, thought I saw something but I was wrong." He turned back towards the other shops so they could finish up shopping and he could go home.</p><p>Sakura provided an endless amount of chatter about anything and everything that had happened since he had left. She even filled him in on some of the things Naruto had told her about her travels with Jiraiya, and things she had accomplished while he was gone. She even let slip in how she was single and hadn't thought of anyone else but him the whole time, not that she hadn't been perused, cause she had.</p><p>They were making their way back towards the Uchiha compound with their arms full of groceries and she was still talking.</p><p>"So when we all found out that Naruto was a girl of all things a few years ago we were really shocked. I mean Naruto, a girl." she laughed. "Ino was pissed that Naruto was and is prettier than she is, "</p><p><em>'She's prettier than you too.'</em> Sasuke thought.</p><p>"Hinata was so shocked she fainted then refused to talk to anyone for weeks afterwards from embarrassment, and the guys! Don't get me started on them. Oh my god Kiba was.."</p><p>They had arrived at the porch of his house when Naruto opened the door leaning heavily on the frame when she saw them. "Oh, hey Sakura, wasn't expecting to see you." she sounded tired as she slowly moved aside for them to come in. They looked like they really needed to put their things down. "Want some help?"</p><p>"Hey Naruto! Thanks for leaving the hospital without telling anyone, I got a lot of shit for that."</p><p>Shrugging her shoulders Naruto followed them into the kitchen, watching as they began to set everything on the table and began to put everything away. Sasuke had to steer her towards a chair at the table for her to sit in where she slouched forward with her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. He told her he didn't need her help putting things away and that she should just sit there and watch.</p><p>Sakura left about an hour later saying she was needed at the hospital while Sasuke had started cooking something that smelled wonderful. He tossed in some vegetables and some meat, then he would add some water and noodles and leave it to simmer. Adding a few spices here and there, tasting it every so often and nodding in agreement with the taste.</p><p>Naruto was content to sit and watch as he moved around the kitchen that hadn't seen life in years. Who would have thought just a few hours would make an empty building full of dust into a warm home again.</p><p>She was surprised when she woke up shortly before he got back to find him gone with only a note on the night stand telling her he went to get food. She slowly made her way out to the living room to find that he had cleaned while she was sleeping and removed the covers from the furniture. The once dusty floors now shone with a cleanliness even her apartment didn't get a chance to see. That thought brought a smile to her face as she heard voices coming towards the house.</p><p>So she made her way to the door just as Sakura was opening her big mouth about the guys of rookie nine and their reactions to her being, well, a girl. She opened the door, effectively killing that line of talk and catching the slight look of ire in Sakura's eye at her being in Sasuke's home, when everyone knew she had a thing for him. Naruto would be damned if she was going to go through everything she did to bring him back for Sakura to dig her filthy hands into him.</p><p>Sure they had remained friends for a while after Sasuke left, but once her gender was out to the public things slowly went south. Naruto learned quite a bit about the pink haired ninja that made even her skin crawl and she had a demon living in her. Lets just say Sakura wasn't as 'innocent' as she claimed to be. They still talked every now and then and sometimes did missions together, but when it came to protecting a certain Uchiha, Naruto wasn't letting her anywhere near him.</p><p>Naruto was lost in her own thoughts, slowly drifting off to sleep again when Sasuke appeared before her causing her to blink her eyes to focus. Smiling softly she looked at his face tracing the lines of his cheekbones and jawline when she noticed his mouth moving. "What was that 'Suke?' she mumbled.</p><p>"I asked if you were awake enough to eat." he looked a little concerned as he watched her sway a little as she breathed. "Naruto?"</p><p>"I'm ok. And yeah I'm hungry." she smiled lazily at him. "But I am tired too."</p><p>Smirking at the blonde before him he scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to the couch. He set her down and grabbed the blanket he placed on the back earlier, covering her up, before going to grab the plate he fixed for her. Tsunade told him she was going to be tired like she never had been before due to the fox not being able to heal her wounds this time, but this seemed extreme to him. Naruto never acted this way before.</p><p>He handed her the plate and sat down next to her, propping his own feet up on the coffee table. Taking a few bites he watched as she ate her food one bite at a time not at all as fast as she would ramen.</p><p>"How is it?" he asked dying to know what she thought.</p><p>Looking over at the eager Uchiha next to her she smiled. "It's really good, thank you."</p><p>And the warmth that filled his chest earlier came flooding back, glad that she liked his cooking and he was able to place that smile on her face. "Hhnn, you're welcome."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Author's note: </strong>
</p><p>PLEASE REVIEW!</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Panties</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE: </strong>
</p><p>Another Chapter for TODAY!</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>DISCLAIMER: </strong>
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</p><p>I DO NOT OWN ANY ASPECT OF NARUTO</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Last time: </em>
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  <em>Looking over at the eager Uchiha next to her she smiled. "It's really good, thank you."</em>
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  <em> And the warmth that filled his chest earlier came flooding back, glad that she liked his cooking and he was able to place that smile on her face. "Hhnn, you're welcome." </em>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Chapter 11: Panties</strong>
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</p><p> </p><p>Panting with the effort of overexerting herself and wiping the sweat out of her eyes, she glared at her opponent across the team seven training grounds.</p><p>Seeing him smirk at her and not even breaking a sweat, let alone breathing hard, pissed her off. It made her stomach do flip fops also, but she wasn't going to think about that. She was going to continue to glare at him.</p><p>"Tired already Dobe?" Sasuke asked while he watched her chest heave with each inhale, the last time they had sparred and she got winded she passed out. She was slowly gaining her strength back and he knew it was frustrating her to no end that she wasn't fully recovered yet. No one was exactly sure why it was taking so long but Tsunade was positive they had removed all of the poison from her system, she double checked and then checked again. Kurama was confused also, he said he was able to send his chakra to her but for some reason she didn't seem to be able to hold it, so it was just being sent back like mail with 'Return to Sender' stamped on it. Looking at her with his Byakugan, Neji told him that her own chakra levels weren't as full as they normally were, but they were slowly filling up more each day.</p><p>It was almost as though her body had to relearn how to hold and store the chakra levels it was capable of holding and Kurama's. As though she were a clean slate wiped clean even though the memories of how to do it was still there. He could see the frustration she was having building the longer it took her to do things.</p><p>She wouldn't say it but Sasuke was sure that Naruto was worried about it. Anytime she went to use a jutsu the past few weeks she seemed hesitant as though she didn't think it would work. Every time he saw the look of defeat on her face he wanted to wrap her up in his arms.</p><p>"N-no," glaring over at the raven haired bastard she stood up straight. "Let's go again, I'm going to get you this time." Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her and she began to tilt to the side. Thinking she was going to be eating another mouthful of dirt she clamped her mouth shut and squeezed her eyes closed when a warm pair of arms wrapped around her.</p><p>Looking up she instantly thought it was Sasuke but was shocked to find Sai there instead.</p><p>"S-sai? What are you doing here?"</p><p>Smiling slightly at her he closed his eyes. "Catching you it seems." She felt so small as he caught her, for someone with such a big personality. He didn't miss how the Uchiha glared daggers at where he was touching the small blonde. He had been watching the two spar for the past half hour, silently watching as she became more and more sluggish and how Sasuke kept letting her push herself too far. Sai would never have let her get so exhausted that she collapsed from it. He could feel the ire building in his chest towards the dark haired man.</p><p>"Uhh, thank you?" Naruto tried to stand on her own but found he wasn't letting her go easily. "Um Sai? Could you let me go now?" Being in Sai's arms felt really weird. She asked as she looked around for Sasuke, finding him not too far away with his hands stuffed into his pockets as he glared at the other male.</p><p>"But what if you fall again?" He seemed to tease, as he set her on her feet, but didn't remove his hands from her, as though to make sure she stayed up right.</p><p>"That's what I'm here for." Came Sasuke's response from behind her seconds before he pulled her from Sai.</p><p>Sai opened his eyes and looked at the Uchiha. "Yes, because you did such a good job of that." Red flashed in the Uchiha's eyes before it quickly disappeared, if Sai hadn't been looking he would have missed it.</p><p>"She wasn't in any danger," Sasuke moved Naruto so she was leaning more on him than standing, and felt as she clenched his shirt in her fist. "What do you want?"</p><p>"I was looking for Naruto to let her know I was back from a mission, I wanted to see if she wanted to grab something to eat and catch up." He peered over at said blond as she glared at the Uchiha, seeing her irritated made him smile.</p><p>"She needs to get home and rest." Sasuke said simply moving to take hold of her hand which she tugged away.</p><p>"I can speak for myself Teme. I feel fine." Actually she felt like she had been run over by a herd of horses and needed ten gallons of water followed by a week's worth of sleep. Looking up at the Uchiha she watched as his eyes snapped to hers with a look of disbelief and a small smirk.</p><p>"Oh really now?" watching Sai out of the corner of his eye to catch his reaction he poked the Dobe with his finger into her shoulder. He watched as anger filled his eyes and hatred at him made his fists clench. Naruto gritted her teeth as she tried not to tilt back with the small movement but since she was already leaning she ended up falling on her ass.</p><p>"What was that for Teme?!" she yelled before looking up finding Sasuke standing in front of her in a defensive stance and Sai with a kunai in his hand.</p><p>Sai looked pissed as Sasuke stayed where he was. "Why did you push her?"</p><p>"She needs to go home and that's where I will be taking her." Sasuke went to turn around to pick her up when Sai yelled.</p><p>"You aren't taking her anywhere! You pushed her!"</p><p>Sasuke rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the blonde intent to pick her up when metal gleamed against his neck causing Naruto to gasp.</p><p>"Sai! Stop! He was only messing around to prove his point!" She grasped his arm trying to pull his hand away from Sasuke only to feel weaker than a baby. "Leave him alone and put that away!"</p><p>Sai looked down at her as she weakly tried to pull his hand holding the kunai away from the Uchiha's neck. The whole time Sasuke just watched Naruto as she fretted over the situation. Seeing her worried over him made him feel warm inside. The feel of the knife at his throat pissed him off and if he thought Naruto would forgive him for it he'd kill the fucker.</p><p>Seeing her still trying to remove his hand and the distress in her eyes, he finally nodded and put it away. He watched as she threw her arms around the hated Uchiha's neck and bury her hands into his hair and as he picked her up. She looked at Sai right before Sasuke flashed them out of there and mouthed "thank you" at him, then they were gone.</p><p>She didn't understand exactly what had happened, all she knew was that the sight of a knife at Sasuke's throat made her blood turn to ice. She couldn't loose him like that or any other way, she needed him more than she needed air.</p><p>She wasn't surprised when they arrived at the Uchiha compound, since she hadn't been home since leaving the hospital three weeks ago. Sasuke's house was starting to feel more like home than her apartment ever had. Which would suck when she did eventually go home.</p><p>Sasuke took them straight to the living room and sat down on the couch while she sat on his lap. He could still feel her trembling as she held on to him tightly, whether it was from fatigue or nerves he didn't know. He was content to hold her for however long she needed him to. The minutes ticked by slowly as her trembling eased and her breathing evened out, her arms went slack and her head lolled slightly to the side as she passed out.</p><p>Nervous, Sasuke checked that she was only sleeping and not in any danger of not waking up, afraid the affects of the poison might come back even after Tsunade said all traces were gone. When she swatted his hand away from him checking her over he let himself relax.</p><p>Remembering what it was like to almost lose her even though he thought the part of his life with Naruto was over made his heart ache something fierce. He had feelings for the Dobe long ago but didn't even want to admit them to himself let alone anyone else. Having Naruto come back and be female was nothing short of a miracle that he wasn't going to let slip through his fingers.</p><p>There was no way he was going to let that Sai character try to take Naruto away from him before he got the chance to make Naruto his. He wasn't blind he could see that Sai thought he loved her even if said blonde was blind to it. He caught the way he looked at her and how he glared every time Sasuke came near. It was almost comical, if not for the fact that Naruto was his.</p><p>Sasuke picked up the sleeping blonde and carried her to the bedroom that they had been sharing, Naruto seemed to have nightmares ever since "being released" from the hospital that she couldn't remember when Sasuke would go in and wake her from her tossing and turning. After she woke up crying and saying that she felt lonely Sasuke decided that sleeping in the same room would be better for the both of them. And it was.</p><p>After placing her on the bed he decided he needed to talk to Tsunade, Naruto needed something to help her get back to her normal strength, especially if those rogue ninja decided to take another shot at her.</p><p>It didn't take long to get to the Hokage's office, nor for her to notice that he was there, even if she was in the middle of paperwork.</p><p>"What is it Uchiha?" She asked as she skimmed the paper in front of her eyes.</p><p>"It's Naruto's progression, or lack there of." Sasuke stated flatly. He knew Naruto wanted to get back to missions and protecting the village and that being so weak was frustrating her to no end.</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>Sasuke looked at the woman as she placed the paper she was still holding down on her desk, "I know that everyone says that they can't find any reason for the way Naruto seems to be at an entrance level genin from the academy with the way her skills are right now. But I can't help but think that there's something more wrong with her. And I know that she's progressing more and more each day, but-"</p><p>"It's hard watching her struggle all over again to complete a simple justsu? Or to build her stamina back up?" Tsunade looked at the male in front of her as he tried to mask the emotions that ran rampant in his eyes, everything from worry to rage to sadness flickered there. "I know that it's hard, but I promise you she's physically fine, Neji even said he can't find anything wrong with her chakra network, and Sakura said she can't find a trace of the poison anywhere. The best we can summarize is that the poison somehow reset her network and she just simply has to rebuild it from scratch."</p><p>Sasuke could do nothing but scowl as Tsunade continued. "The reason Naruto had such reserves before at the academy wasn't because of practice it was because she had over ten years of Kurama building it for her, and now it's all gone and she's trying to force years into weeks and days. In a few months she may be able to get there just because she can talk to the fox and she's older now."</p><p>"So you're going to keep her from missions for that long?" He asked with his eyes wide in disbelief.</p><p>Tsunade threw her head back and laughed. "I'm sure as hell going to try!" she laughed some more before looking back at the darkened haired male before her. "Come on Sasuke, you know Naruto as wells as if not better than I do, no one can stop her from doing something once her mind is put to it."</p><p>"That's what worries me. And what's going to happen if one of those rogue ninja find her again?"</p><p>She watched as his eyes filled with worry he didn't even try to hide. "I would assume that you would be with her, since that's where she seems to be most content now a days anyway." looking off to the side she leaned back in her chair folding her hands and set them on her stomach. "Honestly though if you two do end up leaving the village for any reason I'll probably have Kakashi and Sakura accompany you for extra security."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>She gave him the most deadpan look she could muster. "Sasuke I am not stupid, I know what they want Naruto for. I know that they know who you are and what your abilities are. I also know that two plus two equals 4, but in this case it means they would get their hands one two of the most powerful ninja of this generation. Do you know what they'd do?"</p><p>Sasuke didn't need to answer her question or hear anymore for her to know that he knew what she was getting at. The look of defeat and hardened resolution that followed told her he understood why she'd have extra back up. He didn't want to think too much on why they'd be so happy to get there hands on both of them, he'd get even more pissed and maybe anxious.</p><p>"Now if that is all Uchiha, then I have work that unfortunately needs my attention. Tell Naruto that I said hello and to stop pushing herself too hard though I doubt she'll listen." with that she turned back to her papers and shooed him with a lazy wave of her hand.</p><p>Taking his time heading back to the compound he was walking by Ichiraku and deciding Naruto would like some he grabbed her some to go. He left the small shop and was rounding the corner before the compound when he felt the presence of someone behind him, so he stopped.</p><p>"You should stay away from her. You will do nothing but make everything harder for her." the male said from behind him.</p><p>The truth of those words made Sasuke's blood boil. "She wants me near so that's where I'll be staying. Not that it's your choice anyway."</p><p>The male scoffed and came closer. "She doesn't know what's good for her half the time."</p><p>More truthful words hit Sasuke, hurting more than they should have. "She doesn't need you to be her guard dog Sai."</p><p>"Maybe I should just take-"</p><p>"Hey boss what's going on here? Making new friends? I have to say though this one looks like you found him in some deep dark hole. One filled with water, smelly water. He-" the footsteps of the other two lightly landing beside her.</p><p>"Karin." Sasuke cut her off, he sighed and began walking again not caring if they followed or not, if they wanted food they'd have to get their own.</p><p>He could hear Sai sputtering before he took off. Guess he didn't like his friends, oh well.</p><p>He had to wonder where they had been the past few days. They had been, well, not around lately. It had been nice and quiet, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.</p><p>Sasuke sighed as he rounded the corner to the compound with the three stoodges following, bickering quietly amongst themselves. It was a familiar sound, which he had to admit even if reluctantly to himself, that he was beginning to miss.</p><p>He was about to open the door when it flew open and an irritated blonde stood in the doorway.</p><p>"Where have you been?" she asked, anger tinging her cheeks pink.</p><p>Instead of answering though he took in the sight of her standing there in nothing but her panties and her tee-shirt. She must have removed her pants in her sleep, he could think of no other reason for her to answer the door like that otherwise. Even though she was shorter than him by almost a foot, her legs seemed to go on forever before reaching the hem of that shirt. What he'd give to see more. His eyes made it to her face and to the glorious bedhead she had acquired, she looked fantastic.</p><p>Naruto's eyes narrowed as she toook in the Uchiha who hadn't answered her question and was only starring at her. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Her hands practically smacked her cheeks with the the speed she brought them up with.</p><p>"No, it's not your face Dobe, though you might want to put on some pants." Sasuke smirked as the blonde girl's face turned bright red after noticing that she was indeed breezier than she should have been down there and ran back into the room from where she came.</p><p>"Awe! Now we will never now the color of her panties! Way to ruin the fun Sas- OW!" Suigetsu yelled from not too far behind as Jugo punched him in the arm and Karin snickered.</p><p>Author's note AGAIN:</p><p>So, my laptop mouse was acting up and making my touch screen go bonkers and somehow deleted my editing on this chapter, so i had to go through and do it all over again. it was lovely. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and Please Review.</p>
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